Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time, Space, and Distortion
by Mew Ike
Summary: I woke up a pokemon when I'm supposed to be a human pokemon trainer. But now, in a world where only pokemon exist, it's up to me to find my memory. But first, I must save the world from the legendaries, powerful pokemon that have turned made because this world has become tainted by evil. I must also destroy the source of this evil with my friends, a fennekin and a zorua.
1. I'm A Human, Not A Pokemon!

Chapter 1

I put my paw up to the stone tablet. It was here, clear as day. There was a human girl of teenage age with purple hair, slowly turning into a shinx. She battled legendary after legendary with two powerful pokemon at her side. She was fearless, elegant, and powerful. There was nothing that could stop her. The only thing that seemed able to challenge her was a bloody red snowflake that had already knocked away her diamond armor and eliminated her friends until she was only and powerless. It was then her human form returned and she and the mighty foe battled.

There was no doubt, this purple-haired woman was me. I had been trapped in the body of a shinx to carry out a prophecy long since told in the pokemon world. The pokemon around me saw the prophecy and began to bow, one by one, row after row, until the whole clearing was filled with bowing pokemon. I looked to them, tears in my eyes. Yet none of them consoled me. And why should they? I was the hero, the savior of the pokemon world. This world was going to die unless someone protected it.

And that someone was me.

Zakuro, the human in shinx form.

Bright lights started flashing. A storm in the background started rumbling, shaking the earth beneath my feet. I was knocked into the air by a strong gust of wind, stopped only when the warm and familiar hand of someone grabbed mine. I tightened my grip on them, but the rain made our hands slippery. We began to slip.

"Don't let go!" he shouted. "Please! I can't lose you like this! Please, Zakuro, please don't let go!" I held onto him tighter. I had to keep holding on. This couldn't be happening. This can't be the end.

Our grip had just become firm when a bolt of lightning struck between us. Our hands separated and I was pulled into a dark void. A scream escaped me. The last thing I remember was a bright light before being knocked unconscious.

Ngh… It was hot. The sun was beating down on me without mercy. It was like I had been placed in a big oven. It was annoying. Sweat was beginning to drip down my sides. There was a breeze, though. It was cool and calm, enough to keep the temperature manageable. Leaves, I could hear them rustling. Butterfrees were singing nearby. Beedrills buzzed past me. A flock of pidoves passed overhead, chirping in conversation. It was so peaceful.

I tried to open my eyes. Nothing. I was stuck lying here until I was able to move. It wasn't that bad. The grass was soft, the air sweet, and the pokemon distant. There was no chance of being attacked by them. Everything was calm, I doubted any of them would be up for a battle with me.

Wait, what pokemon did I have again?

…

What? I couldn't remember? That couldn't be right. What kind of trainer forgets what pokemon they have? But how many were there? Was there a full team? Just one? My mind drew a blank. What in the world?

Wait. What was I doing here? Where am I? What happened?

…

A bright light, a storm, and someone calling my name. Who was it? They were… their name was… oh no. Had I been hit too hard on the head?

There was no memory of mine at all!

Calm down. Calm down. Who was I? Zakuro. My name is Zakuro. Ok, that's a start. What am I? I'm a girl, about eighteen. My hair… my hair color is… um… nevermind. Next question. Where am I from?

…

Ok, so now I was starting to panic.

Don't panic, don't panic. Let's just take a second to breathe. Maybe sitting and thinking will jog my memory. Maybe I hit my head on something. Maybe I was dreaming. Maybe it was all just a dream. That was comforting. A dream. I'd wake up and everything would be fine. I'd be back at home-

"Hey," someone whispered. I felt a poke in my side. Did they just poke me with a furry stick? No, that felt like a paw. Weird… I thought it just spoke- "Are you alright? You've been lying there for a while."

"Ngh…" I mumbled. My body was coming to. Slowly, ever so slowly, my eyes began to open. The sun was blinding. Tears started welling from the sight. The person that had been talking to me leaned above me, blocking the sun temporarily.

What an oddly shaped head. It looked like they had cat ears and some sort of funky ear hair. If I didn't know any better, I'd say it was a fennekin. But that's impossible. Well, it was until my sight cleared and it became obvious that the person above me was indeed a pokemon: a fennekin. Well, it's good to know I at least remembered what pokemon were.

"You alright?" the fennekin spoke. "You look pale."

I froze. Then I shot right up onto my feet.

"Waaah!" I shouted. The fennekin looked startled and backed away, holding up a paw for me to calm down. My head was racing. A talking pokemon? Why? How? My eyes darted around the area.

A forest. I was in a forest. That was to be expected, it's what I had heard before. But… how did I get here? More importantly, why was there a talking pokemon? She looked startled, afraid even. I relaxed slightly.

"Calm down, girl," she whispered. "Nothing gonna hurt you here, ok? You must've fainted or something."

Right, that must've been it. I fainted. Seems right. My memory will come back soon then. Right? Please?

"Here." The fennekin held up an oran berry that she plucked from a nearby bush. "This should help you for now, if you lost any health." She approached me slowly, as if I was going to attack her. When she was close enough, she set the berry in front of me. Slowly, I reached down and picked it up.

Wow, if I didn't know any better, it looked as if my hands had become paws.

Both my hands.

And my feet.

…?

"You look sort of dirty," the fennekin whispered. "C'mon, there's a puddle over here. You can wash up." A puddle. not my ideal sort of bathing, but it would have to do. I started following her. Sooner or later I'd be back in a city of some sort. Then I can get someone to see if they know who I am. Maybe-

I looked down at the puddle the fire pokemon had lead me to.

Huh?

I blinked, looked right and left, then paled.

Oh sweet Arceus.

I was a shinx. I had turned into a pokemon.

"Waaah!" I shouted again, rearing up on my back legs and immediately falling into another puddle, which I squirmed hard to free myself from. I had lost all sense of direction in my sudden surprise that I found myself stuck on my back, the water lapping at my sides. My eyes turned to swirls and the world started spinning around me.

A dream.

That's what this was.

I was in a dream.

Please, just be a dream.

The same fennekin that had lead me to the puddle leaned over me again.

"I wouldn't recommend cleaning yourself that way," she said, "but I guess electric pokemon have a different way of going about things, I guess." I sat up right away and landed on all fours.

"You gotta help me!" I exclaimed. Wow, that was my voice? It wasn't what I remembered. "I'm lost. One moment there was… then… I was…" The fennekin tilted her head, not following. I hit my head on the dirt and covered my ears. Tears started welling up in my eyes. "I can't even remember how I got here…"

"Hey there," she said, nudging me with her warm paw. "It's alright. I'll help you find your way back."

"You… you don't understand," I whispered. "I can't remember anything. I can't remember what happened." Fennekin nudged me to my feet again. She was smiling softly.

"I'm sure you'll be fine," she assured. "Don't worry. Now, did you have any friends of yours that you remember?" I paused.

"N-no… I'm… I'm a human." Now Fennekin looked utterly confused. She circled me, taking in every part of my body to see if there was any irregularity, any clues to see if I was bluffing or not. Now I looked like an idiot. This pokemon wasn't going to believe me. "I-I swear. I was a human a moment ago! It's crazy I know, but-"

"I believe you," the fennekin said.

"Huh?" She smiled warmly.

"Don't worry 'bout it, girl. I know you're telling the truth." There was a pause. "You don't seem like the kind of person who would lie. I saw you fall from the sky a moment ago. Nobody else did, but I did. It's a miracle you didn't fully faint from it, actually. you must be pretty tough."

…

This… this pokemon believed me.

I fell from the sky?

I… I can't remember anything.

"I suppose a proper introduction is needed." She bowed her head. "I'm Zyla. It's a weird name, I know, but my parents wanted it to be unique." Looking to me with a brilliant smile, "What's your name?"

"Zakuro," I answered, relieved I still remember that. "I'm Zakuro." It felt good to say it. Thank goodness I still remembered that much.

"Well, Zakuro, nice to meet you." Zyla looked me up and down. "Human, you say? That must be… unusual. So you don't remember anything? Not even where you came from or how you got here?"

"No…" I whispered. "Nothing…"

"Hmm." There was a pause. "Well, I guess there's no harm in checking around, is there?"

"Checking around?"

"Yeah! There's a little town up ahead. I was just heading there now, there's this cool guild I wanna join." I had no idea what a guild was, but I nodded anyway. "If you'd like, we can go check it out together. The pokemon from there have been all around the land. If there's any sort of lore regarding people turning into pokemon, I'm sure they'll know something."

"D-don't tell them it refers to me, ok?" I asked.

"Hm?" How do I explain this?

"It sounds crazy, you know… a human turning into a pokemon… I wasn't even sure if I wanted to tell it to you…"

"Oh!" Zyla said in sudden realization. "Of course! I won't mention it. We'll find a roundabout way of findin' out. Trust me, I'm pretty good with words." She turned her back on me only to look over her shoulder. "You comin' Zakuro?"

…

What other choices did I have? I could sit here and try to regain my memory, or I could follow Zyla and ask around. The answer was obvious, but I wanted to know where I came from. What happened to me. Why I had transformed. There wasn't any real answer, was there? There was no use in sitting around like I had been. I had to follow Zyla.

So I stepped up to her, adjusting to walking on all fours, and followed her through the woods. When she wasn't looking, I stared up to the sky I had supposedly fallen from. If there was someone who knew about what happened to me, help me find them. Please.

I wanted to know.

Why had this happened to me?

Zakuro Fell From The Sky!

Zakuro Fainted!

Zyla Added Zakuro To Her Team!

Zakuro Is Confused!

Saving Game…

Game Saved!


	2. I See My First Ever Pokemon Town

Chapter 2

I thought it'd be weird to walk on all fours because, you know, ex-human here. But the more Zyla and I trotted along, the more I realized how easy to was to navigate on all fours. I could probably run faster now that I think about it. It'd be nice to take a run, all my limbs were stiff and heavy. Did I really fall from the sky?

For probably the fifth time in a row, I bit my lip. It hurt. Yep, I wasn't dreaming. This was real. I had become a shinx. I don't know how, why, or when, but I have become one. Where was I anyways? I haven't seen a single trainer, let alone human when I got here. Talk about weird, it was like this whole place was nothing but pokemon.

…

Right?

"So, tell me about yourself," Zyla said, catching my attention. It was probably the second or third time she said it. "What do you remember?"

"Um," I started. "I'm a girl… my name is Zakuro… I have…" I paused. Zyla looked over her shoulder at me. Her ear fluff twitched, like she was trying to hear my thoughts as well as my words. Her purple eyes were sympathetic. It was like she knew what I was going through, which I highly doubted. "Um… I really like the color purple."

What? Where did that come from? Oh yeah, my favorite color was purple. Did I just think of that because I saw the color of Zyla's eyes? I've never known a fennekin to have purple eyes. Then again, I didn't know anything at the moment.

"Purple, huh?" Zyla smiled. "You're weird, Zakuro. But I like that. Weird pokemon make all the difference in the world."

"Right," I said. "By the way, just to make sure I'm not crazy, what planet are we on?" I smiled. I remembered that much. Earth was my home. Owned and ran by humans, completely covered in both human and pokemon. I was probably teleported to a forest nearby or something.

"There's a lot of different names for it," Zyla replied. "I guess, depending on the pokemon, you'll get a different answer. Here in this forest, we call it Paradise." Alright, that's fine. We're on the planet of Paradise. I guess that's what pokemon say. Nothing unusual there.

"What do we… the humans, call it?"

"Hmm?"

"The humans." Zyla stopped and blinked at me. I met her eyes. Had I said something wrong? Something unusual? "You know, our trainers, the people with the big cities, the people with the pokeballs?" Zyla blinked at me.

"I hate to tell you this," she started, "but here in Paradise, humans are just a myth." My whole body froze. I started to shiver as she continued. "I don't have any idea how you must feel, Zakuro, but I'm going to tell you now that you better keep it lowkey if you plan to fit in here. I saw where you fell from: you fell from a hole in the sky. That's why I believe you. But these other pokemon are going to think, it won't be good." I was still frozen stiff from surprise when she tapped me with her paw. "Don't worry girl, I gotcha covered, alright?"

It took all the strength I had not to scream. Then, in a defeated voice, "Alright…"

"Good. Just calm down now, ok? We're going to meet some pokemon now." Before I could protest, she pulled away some shrubs.

Wow. Even as concerned as I was about being a pokemon, all that melted away when I saw what lie ahead of me. There was a little town, a quaint one with little shops. There was a mail outpost, a general store, a berry and seeds stop, a dojo, an inn, and several other shops I couldn't decide a use for. The biggest of these buildings had to be the one dead in the center of the square, upon which all the stores were aligned around it. There were pokemon climbing up the roundabout path to get to the top, which was apparently the entrance, for they disappeared in a hut at the top.

Other than the buildings, there were no paths, just green grass and trees to provide shade for the hotter day. There was a babbling brook which some mudkips were bathing in, a flat of rock where some ekans were tanning, and some trees where a few aipoms swung from branch to branch. All six generations of pokemon were here, and they were living peacefully. The sight was sure to take anyone by surprise, yet soothe them.

Zyla nudged me onward, then took the lead. She looked back at me, smiling.

"Don't worry bout a thing. You'll blend in just fine here. It's my first time in these parts, too." Ok, so she was new as well. It took some of the weight off my shoulders, but I had a little bit more to worry about.

When we got into town, the pokemon there at first stared at us. I felt their eyes drilling holes in every part of my body. And being in a new body, well, it made it even more disturbing. The only pokemon that didn't stare were the storekeepers, and even then they appeared used to it. Jeez, was this world full of pokemon thugs? I saw a timburr taking an apple from a tympole and then throwing it away like it had tasted terrible. How sick of him.

"Welcome to town," a soft voice greeted. Wow, a leafeon. She was so pretty, too. It looked like she had her own shop. It was call the 'Rest Your Paws' Inn. She was standing by the door. We paused to talk to her. "You two must be new. What are your names?"

"Zyla," my fennekin companion told her. "And that's Zakuro," she added, nodding at me. I wasn't sure if they noticed through the fur, but I blushed. "Don't worry, she's a little shy."

"Ah, I see." Leafeon's ears were so soft and delicately, they blew in the gentle breeze. Her tail was working with the wind to gently swish back and forth. "Would you like to come inside?"

"Yes, please." Leafeon nodded gracefully before leading us inside. It was there that a loud shout could be heard. What sounded like furniture started rolling, and the entire room went silent after. Leafeon stepped aside and right away I noticed that there had a nearly been a battle. A vulpix and a deino, both held back by two strong metangs.

"Oh, if my mom didn't teach me to never resort to battling, you'd be dead!" The vulpix was furious. Like full-on in rage mode. Her eyes were on fire, for cry's sake. If it wasn't for a nearby marill, who doused the flames with a harmless use of the move bubble, the whole place might've caught on fire. "You dragon pokemon think you're such hot stuff! So what if you have the highest stats, you're no shiner!"

"Hey, lady," the deino said in a much deeper voice than I thought possible for such a small pokemon. "If you plan on being a brute about not getting your pretty pecha berries, go elsewhere. This world is in need of more of me, less of you!"

"Both of you," Leafeon said, stepping between the two of them. "Stop it. This is no place to fight. In a world like we live in now, do you think this is the right thing to do? Start battling in a place where people come to sleep and eat in peace?" The vulpix and the deino exchanged glances. Then, when the metangs set them down. They sighed and walked out the door, being sure to give each other enough space.

"Things are pretty tough," one of the metangs said when he caught me glance. "Fights like this are more often."

"I saw one the other day over dropping a leaf in someone's oran berry soup," the other one said. "Sometimes you can't stop each and every battle. But in here, it's better not to let it get too heated."

"I guess the appearance of Mystery Dungeons has everyone worried then, huh?" whispered a chimecho from the corner. Her words settled everyone in the inn. Their stony faces told me that it was more than upsetting what she had said.

Mystery dungeons? I wondered. What were those? I looked to Zyla for an answer, but she looked just as upset as the others. I tried not to stand out too much, so I attempted to look scared as well. It wasn't easy, but it worked.

"Anyways, you two, would you like something to eat?" Leafeon asked, looking to us. Zyla nodded.

"Yes, if you could." Fennekin followed her up to the wooden counter. I trailed behind her, taking in everyone in the room. Two metangs, a chimecho, a klefki, some litwicks, and a bellsprout. No real strong pokemon here. The metangs were probably the strongest ones here. And looking at the way they talked and acted, they were probably more soft than they were hard. "Can I get some oran berry stew?"

"Sure thing, sweetheart." The leafeon looked to me. "And for you."

I guess hamburger wasn't an option. I started to panic, unable to spit out anything that would've made sense.

"She needs a sitrus berry stew," Zyla said softly. "She's a bit new to these parts. Fight must've taken her by surprise."

"Ah, I see." She gestured with her tail to where I could sit. It was the floor, but hey, we're all pokemon, right? Chairs was probably a foreign object to them. "Well, I'll get that for you, sweetheart. Where does a pokemon have to come from where a battle takes her by surprise?"

"Quite a ways away, I can assure you that," I whispered. Leafeon smiled.

"You sound like a nice pokemon," she said. Good try, lady. I don't even know what the hell I am right now. I wasn't even sure if my name was actually Zakuro anymore. I was feeling sick. "Here, honey. Take some of this. It should help." She pushed me a wooden bowl of what looked like tea with a sitrus berry on the side. My stomach grumbled. If anything was for sure, it was that I was hungry.

Using my paws like a Zyla, I picked up the bowl and sipped it. Wow. It tasted good. Like, really good. I managed to down the whole thing without even thinking about it. Leafeon flicked her tail, a smile on her face. Her deep emerald eyes looked approving, relieved, even. I saw that she had some coins behind her, on a table where she kept a bunch of berries.

"Ah, shoot," I whispered. "Um, how much do I owe you, uh, for the sitrus berry soup?" Leafeon looked surprised.

"Oh," she said. "First time is free. I'll have to charge you after this one."

"Of course. Thank you." I bowed my head and handed her back her bowl.

"My, what a polite young lady you are." I felt myself blush. "Whoever your family is, I'm sure they're glad to have you as a part of their team." My heart sunk. I don't know what was worse, missing a family, or actually being able to remember them. My shoulder slouched slightly. Zyla and Leafeon exchanged glances. "Why don't you take one of our rooms for the night, young one?" she offered.

I wanted to say no. I didn't want to have to owe her anything, and if anything, I didn't want to take advantage of her kindness. Pokemon slept outside all the time. Maybe there'd be a nice spot out there somewhere. I looked towards the door. Great, it was raining.

"Oh, you must be thinking it costs cash to stay here," Leafeon said, drawing my attention. "It's free for everyone. As long as you don't make it like your ordinary home, dirtying it and kicking people around, then it's all yours. We can even get a room for you and Zyla together, if you like."

"Thank you," I whispered, bowing my head. She nodded.

"Of course." She stepped out from behind the counter, feet delicate against the soft grass. We followed her up the stairs and into a room that had separate parts to it, each being the same size with two beds in each. Each one had some pokemon in it but one: the one at the farthest end of the hallway that looked to be just as nice and put together as the others. We stepped inside. In this one, there was one larger bed made of soft feathers and fur. Zyla and I looked around. There was nothing else particularly special about it. The only thing worth mentioning was the window, which had somehow had glass on it, which I thought was foreign to be made by pokemon.

I looked outside. There were pokemon running for cover from the rain, the lightning, the thunder. The more I stared, the more I realized that Leafeon and Zyla were watching me with sad eyes. It was like they had just met an orphan. Well, I guess that was true. I didn't remember anybody. My mom, my dad, any brothers or sisters. Just my name. My stupid name.

"Be sure to keep warm," I heard Leafeon whisper. "Get some rest, you two." Then she left the room and closed the thin door behind her. I watched her leave then sat on the wooden floor.

Great. I was a human trapped as a pokemon in a world where humans don't even exist. I couldn't remember anything but my name and my favorite color. I don't know how I got here or why, and more importantly, I was stuck with a pokemon I had just met today. If there was a time to be depressed, it was now.

I curled up and lie there. Zyla nudged me. I blinked at her, fighting back tears.

"Hey, now," she whispered. "It's going to be alright. If it makes you feel any better, there's a bed over there to sleep in." Even though I hadn't said I wanted to get in the bed, she nudged me to my feet and showed me where it was. I hopped onto it and curled up. It was there I let the tears flow out of my eyes. I felt so alone.

Until Zyla lie right beside me and washed away my tears with a paw.

"Some people may think you're crazy," she said, "but I believe you." I sniffled. Was she telling the truth? Did she actually believe me? Or did she just think I was crazy and felt too bad to leave me in the cold? That's what this world looks like. What were the chances the fennekin in front of me wasn't a liar or someone trying to take advantage of me? "We'll start first thing tomorrow trying to regain your memories, alright?"

I looked into her eyes. There was no trace of evil, mockery, or annoyance. She was genuine. Maybe it was true. Maybe I had found the only pokemon in this world willing to help me.

"Thanks, Zyla," I whispered. "That sounds good." The fennekin smiled, her tail wagging.

"Get some sleep." She closed her eyes. "Night, Zakuro."

"Goodnight."

Wild Deino And Vulpix Would Like To Battle!

Leafeon Stopped The Battle!

Zyla And Zakuro Are Fully Healed!

Saving Game…

Game Saved!


	3. Zyla Is More Fierce Than I Thought!

Chapter 3

A warm breeze started stirring in the room. I felt the intensified heat of summer bearing down on my pelt. The storm that had once soaked the town before was gone, leaving behind the sweet smell of rain. I opened my eyes and right away saw that out the window in our little room, the sun was rising. I was confused at first. Where was I?

Oh right.

Still a pokemon.

I stretched like a cat and stood up. Zyla was still asleep, tail curled up over her nose. I dropped down the the floorboards, and the fennekin groggily opened her eyes. Slowly coming to, she blinked a few times and yawned. Her fur was a mess, so she started licking it back into place. I started doing the same, unsure of how to properly do it. I'm sure I looked fine, but it's hard to feel at ease when you're no longer in your own body.

"Well, first things first," Zyla said. "Let's get to the Mystery Guild."

"Mystery Guild?" I asked. "Is that the building in the middle of town?" Zyla nodded, excited.

"Yeah. They're a notoriously famous guild that's well-known for their feats in conquering mystery dungeons. Not only that, but they have top explorers, battle masters, and wise elders that know almost anything." Her tail started wagging. It made me smiled slightly. "If there's anywhere to start, it's there. I've also been meaning to join for a while…" She smiled nervously. "But… I haven't had the courage to do it."

"Well, it looks like it'll benefit both of us." I started towards the door. "Ready?"

"Oh, yeah!" Zyla was already looking nervous. "Right." She trotted over to me. I wonder what it was like to be born and raised as a pokemon. She was a fire type starter and I was an electric type cat. I guess we were both like foxes. Maybe being a shinx wasn't going to be so bad. Could I shock people?

Well duh. I most likely could.

Zyla took the lead and we walked down the stairs. There was a new group of pokemon there today with a few of the important ones from before. Namely, the Metang Brothers. They saw us and casually waved clumsily. We waved back, somewhat hesitant. The two pokemon returned to their morning brew of some sort of hot tea. They were sitting next to a joltik, who was sitting on the table with a cup the size of a thimble in his tiny hands.

Zyla continued out the door, me on her tail. The shops outside were just as beautiful as the day before, but they were covered in a thin layer of morning dew. The sun was reflecting it, making each drop a miniature rainbow. What was better: there was a rainbow overhead. Not just any rainbow, a wide and thick one. You couldn't see the sky through it, the colors were too vibrant. And it wasn't just the usual colors, there was pinks and turquoise and even white. It was gorgeous beyond belief.

The pokemon outside were lying on their backs to observe the view. Children were pointing, adults had their hands behind their heads to stare, everyone was just enjoying it. It didn't seem to be a normal sight, that was for sure. Zyla had her jaw wide open and her eyes unblinking.

"Wow!" she whispered. "It's so gorgeous!"

I had to agree with her. Even though I could remember next to nothing, this sight was one of the first to take my breath away. Maybe being a pokemon wasn't so bad. Maybe it was meant to be enjoyed. That's what I hoped.

'Hoped' being the key word.

"Aren't they pretty?" whispered a pokemon next to me. I jumped a little bit when the vivillon that had spoken approached me. She wasn't a normal vivillon, either. She was an ocean pattern breed, the top half of her wings a rising sun, the bottom a gorgeous blue sea. She smiled at me. "They're called the Rainbows of Hope. They appear every now and then." She turned her head to the sky. "They've been a little harder to come across nowadays, so it's quite the sight right now."

Still a little shaken by her sudden appearance, I looked back to the rainbows. They were beautiful, weren't they? I wish I knew the words to explain how amazing they were. Everything from their shape to their color to just everything about them was spectacular. There was a certain power to them, now the entire town was outside marveling at them. Not a single soul was inside. It was like all the hostility from yesterday was gone. Pokemon were laughing, playing, and getting along just fine. These rainbows did have a power to them.

A very strong power.

Zyla nudged me. "C'mon, Zakuro. We gotta talk to the guild." She pranced on forward. I followed her quickly. We had to avoid bumping into pokemon as we made our way to the tower in the center of town, which Zyla began to climb like a pro. I may have just become a shinx, but I was fully able to climb the tower as it spiraled upwards without tripping over my own feet. It was a taxing climb, I will admit. It wasn't too tall, but the roundabout way up to the top was steep. I was panting when I reached the zenith. Zyla was about the same.

The top had an entrance to it like the opening of a cave. But instead of a rocky outcropping, the mouth of the cave was designed to look like a hungry wigglytuff. It was actually quite cute. The only other notable part about it was a hole in front of the hungry wigglytuff entrance, covered by a metal grate. It was as if people were meant to look up at pokemon who attempted to enter. I even heard them talking beneath the grate.

Zyla was visibly trembling beside me. Her face was taut with nervousness. She hopped back and forth from paw to paw to try and calm herself. I haven't known her that long, but I could tell that this was something she had been meaning to do for a while, but never got to doing. I guessed it was because she was too nervous.

"Let's do this tomorrow," she said after a short while. "I'm sure no one is inside anyways, the Rainbows are out. It'd be better to do this later." I blinked at her. Was she that nervous? She had to be. That must've been the reason.

"Hey," I said. "If it makes you feel better, I'll step across the grate, too."

I'm not sure what crossed her mind. All I know is that every trace of fear was put on hold. She met my eyes. It was as if someone offered her the last piece of cake. She was.. content. She was joyous.

She was happy.

"Are you… are you sure?" she said, the hint of a smile on her face. I nodded.

"One-hundred percent." I kept my voice strong yet soft. Zyla still looked worried. It wasn't possible to hold paws when walking on all fours, so I pressed up against her side and started forward. She was hesitant, but when started going, her fur started to warm. It was like a fire had been ignited in her. I'm not sure if that was possible, but she was a fire type, so I convinced myself it wasn't unusual. As we started to put our first steps on the grate, she started trembling. I pushed against her slightly harder, and the trembling ceased. It was then that both of us had all fours on the bamboo grate that she froze, completely terrified.

"'EY!" someone called from below. It was a rough voice. It was scratchy and old, a lot like an old man that had recently been retired from war, "Someone's tryna enter! Get over 'ere!" Zyla was one second away from backing away, but I kept her close.

"Don't worry," I whispered. "If they attack us, I'll battle them." I met her eyes, which had widened slightly. We exchanged glances. She moved her lips as if she wanted to speak, but a different voice sounded from below.

"One of dem poke's is a fennekin!" the voice shouted. "Can you confirm dat?"

"Confirmed!" came a third voice. "Fennekin and a… uh… what in blue blazes?" There was shuffling below. I could hear dirt from below being turned over and shuffled around. It was like the pokemon below was moving back and forth to get a better look at my paws. I tried to looked down, but there was no chance I could see them. The sun was directly above us. They could probably only see our paws, hence why they couldn't properly identify mine. When I looked down, the sunlight was patchy and faint. It was too dark to see clearly the three pokemon that were examining us.

"I dunno what it is!" The third voice came again. "It's not from around here!"

"You idiot, lemme see." Shuffling sounded again. There was a pause. I flexed my claws in and out to see if that would help them. It did not. "Gosh darn it. I have no idea either."

"Send someone up!" the first voice called. Zyla froze. I nudged her, easing her muscles slightly. "Honestly, you two are our top door keepers. How in the world can you not know which pokemon that is?"

I waited for them to say something more, but the shuffling stopped and all when quiet. Zyla's eyes were stuck on the entrance to the building. The gaping mouth of the hungry wigglytuff was filled with dim light for a brief while before going dark again. It was like someone had opened a door and closed it. That was probably the case, because when the light had gone out, a pokemon stepped out.

The delibird stepped out into the light of day and approached the two of us. Like all pokemon like him, he held the bag that was used in battle to hinder or help opponents. He had a hand in there already, prepared to strike us if he deemed us dangerous. When he saw Zyla, he nodded to himself. Then he saw me and blinked. Was he… surprised? Shinx were pretty common, weren't they? They were nothing like legendaries, I knew that. Yet he looked me up and down, confirming what he saw. Then he pulled his arm from the bag, empty handed, and paused.

Zyla had gone completely still. Though she was fearful, I could sense that she was relieved somewhat. Delibirds were ice types. If she needed to get away, a bolt of fire could save her from a battle. It was a calming thought. Somewhat. Maybe a little.

"Shinx," the delibird called. "It's a shinx."

"Shinx?" called the first voice from below. "Alright, I'll give ya two some leeway on dat one. I've never seen one of those before. At least here in town, dat is."

"Those kinda electric types down't come down from thunder peak," the second voice mumbled. "Maybe we're dealing with a rogue…" Thunder Peak? Rogue? What were they talking about?

"Keep your eyes out!" the third called. "They're not the nicest pokemon 'round! Might shock the life outta ya!" Now that was just rude. He knows we can hear him, yet he shouts a blatant insult. What rude pokemon. No wonder Zyla was having a hard time with these folks.

"Can I help you?" The delibird asked. I looked to Zyla, but she was too afraid of them to speak. So I looked to the ice type and spoke instead.

"We're here to join the guild." The flightless bird raised his left eyebrow. Did… did he think I was lying? "The two of us have been wanting to, but we didn't get the time to until now." He narrowed his eyes.

"Didn't get the time, eh?" His gaze fell on Zyla. "Looks more like you haven't have the backbone to do it." Zyla's face turned red. She dropped her head, squeezing her eyes shut and trembling. "You think you two can be in the guild with that kind of courage, eh? You two wouldn't last one second in the easiest dungeon we get sent out to." The pokemon turned his back on us and looked from over his shoulder. "Go home, coward. There's no way-"

The air suddenly thickened. Sweat started gathering in my fur. I jumped away from Zyla, whose eyes had caught fire in a deadly rage. She opened her mouth, inhaling air with a loud, inwards growl. Then, before the delibird could react, she hit him in the back with a high-level ember. The move hit him and he was tossed forward into the mouth of the cave. Instead of stumbling backwards and going down the ladder, he was plastered against the back wall. He squealed loudly, no doubt drawing attention from the three door keepers from below. When the ember had been put out, the ice pokemon fell backwards onto the dirt, fainted.

The Wild Delibird Used Intimidate!

Zyla Used Ember!

Delibird Fainted!

Saving Game…

Game Saved!


	4. I Enter The Guild With Mewtwo!

Chapter 4

I jumped forward and gently bit down on Zyla's ear. I wasn't sure if she had the intent of firing another move at her opponent, but I wanted to be sure she didn't. I pulled her backward and off the grate. She followed willingly. The air had been thickened by the fire, but now that it was over, the cool breeze wafted over us, chilling the air. I released Zyla and glared.

"Zyla," I whispered. "That's not… you can't… what were you thinking?!"

"I'm no coward," she declared, loud enough for the pokemon beneath the grate to overhear. "I can clear any dungeon I want, regardless of what he says!" I blinked. Wow. What was with the sudden burst of courage? Where did that come from?

"What's going on here?" A different pokemon climbed up the ladder. An umbreon. At first it was only curious, but upon seeing delibird knocked unconscious with a burn on his back, the rings on her body started glowing. She turned to us so quickly I'm surprised her neck didn't break from whiplash. Slowly, ever so slowly, the dark type began to approach us. One paw in front of the other, eyes wide with the intent to faint us, the pokemon almost seemed ready to pounce. Zyla and I spread our stance in preparation. The air thickened once again. There was not yet a fireball that did this, just Zyla's thick, glowing fur.

I was just as fired up. As soon as the umbreon paused, as if she were ready to attack, a tiny bolt of static hit her in the cheek. She blinked, trying to remain menacing, but the electricity that was gathering in the air was becoming hazardous. The air crackled and sizzled with static. I had never used a move before in my life, but the urge of battle was calling me. The power inside me was ready to be released. I would fry the fur off of that pokemon if needed. Nothing would faint me. Not now, not ever.

"Stop it!" Another pokemon came hastily up the ladder. The umbreon glanced over her shoulder. The temptation to shock her right then and there was strong. But before I could even prepare to strike, the espeon jumped in between us and lifted her forked tail. Her eyes glowed and the three of us became paralyzed. A thick layer of purple energy coated us. The static stopped, the air cooled, and the look of murderous intent on Umbreon's face turned to shock.

Espeon whirled around to her dark counterpart and bared her teeth. "Idiot! What do you think you're doing, challenging newcomers to a battle?!"

"They're crazy!" The delibird that Zyla had supposedly fainted was sitting up, pressed against the back wall. He was afraid of us now. What had once been a sassy and intimidating pokemon was now a trembling, fearful coward. His eyes were rimmed with tears, not because of pain, but sheer terror. "They could've fainted me! Or worse, killed me!"

"Is that true, Fennekin?" Espeon said, turning to us. There was no hostility in her voice. If anything, it was concerned. The weight of her psychic power was lifted off me as she waited for a response. Zyla bared her teeth.

"I don't know," she spat. "Does being downright evil to someone who applies for the guild count as a good reason to be called a coward? Am I not allowed to stand up for myself?" Espeon's ears ficked. "And Umbreon, she came out here ready to attack without so much as asking for an explanation. What kind of guild are you? A guild of thugs?" I was ready to bite her ear and pull her back as even more as a look of anger flashed in the psychic pokemon's eyes, but her expression cleared almost instantly and she bowed her head.

"I figured Theo would be up to that. And for Dua, forgive her. The world isn't what it used to be." Her gaze drifted between the two of us. "I hope you can forgive us. We didn't mean to alarm you."

"That's alright!" Zyla's mood switched faster than a kecleon's skin color. I turned to her, blinking in surprise. Was this chick bipolar? She would've killed these pokemon in an instant a couple seconds ago. "Sorry… um… Theo, was it? I didn't mean to burn you… that badly." The delibird stuck out his lower lip in a pout. We waited a while for him to reply, but after a while, he turned his head to the side, beak to the air.

"Theo, you prideful fool." The espeon shook her head.

"I apologize as well," Dua the umbreon spoke. Again, I waited for more, but she appeared to be done. This pokemon was creepy. She wasn't scared, but she was frozen in place, eyes stuck forward. I moved slightly to reposition my already tired paws and she glanced at me. Was she… always alert? The rings of her body pulsed bright gold.

Espeon approached the two of us. "You two look like quite the pair of adventurers. I take it you're here to join the guild." Zyla froze again. The terror froze her limbs once again. Wow, she had quite the ability to switch from one emotion to the next without a second thought. The espeon noticed and turned to me. "I'm Topsy. You two are…?"

"Zakuro," I replied. "And this is my friend, Zyla." Topsy's tail swished from side to side.

"Zakuro, huh? I've never heard such a name before." She smiled softly. "You must not be from around these parts, then. You hardly see a shinx here." She turned her back on us. "Follow me, I'll show you where you can sign up."

"R-r-really?!" Zyla jumped up right in front Topsy. The espeon was mildly surprised. "We can join the guild?! That's awesome!" Zyla's fur was fluffed up in joy. Her tail was wagging and the hair in her ears trembling. The look in her eyes was sheer glee.

"We're always open to new adventure teams," she said with a smile. "C'mon now, before it gets too late." Topsy started inside, Zyla prancing right behind her. I was quick to catch up and pulled up beside the fennekin as she started humming a happy tune. Dua watched me with blank eyes, but when she saw my friend prancing about like a baby pokemon, she smiled and rolled her eyes. Theo stayed as far away from us as possible. The once sassy and intimidating delibird was now reduced to a cowardly ice type, clutching to bag Zyla had nearly burned off.

Instead of climbing down the ladder, Topsy simply dropped to the next level. I was surprised when Zyla decided to do the same. Luckily before I followed in suit, I saw she had landed perfectly. These two were cat pokemon, afterall. I managed to land with a bit of a stumble, but nonetheless without injury. As soon as Dua and Theo had arrived, I began to marvel at the room around us.

It looked to be somewhat of a dining hall. There was a long, _long_ table for probably fifty or more pokemon. Instead of chairs, there were piles of feathers and furs that had been stacked higher in some places for what I guessed were smaller pokemon. The seat at each head of the table were lacking these seats, but their place had been set by the same plates that everyone else had used. These plates had currently been eaten from and were being picked up and cleaned by a solosis, who took the plates into his gel-like body, where they were immediately cleaned before being pulled out and set back down. He blinked at us in greeting before returning to his work.

The walls were lined with different groups of pokemon with names of them below. There were so many that there was barely any wall to see; they had almost entirely been covered by these pictures of pokemon of every kind. One of these groups included Topsy, Dua, and Theo. The plaque beneath their framed picture said, "Team Downside Up." I can only imagine that Topsy had come up with the name. They weren't the only ones with bizarre team names. In fact, every one of the framed teams had unusual names. The only thing that made me anxious was that each of them had three members or more. Hopefully that didn't stop Zyla and I from becoming a team of our own. And to some surprise to me, none of these teams seemed to have a shinx.

The room was lit by purple fire torches. I could only imagine this was the world of litwicks. They made torches that didn't set things on fire. Though the glow of these were faint and dreary, the whole room was lit brightly. I blinked a few times to adjust to it.

"This is where we have dinner," Topsy explained. "Every night before bedtime and every morning before we wake up, Ludwig makes us a fresh batch of food for the whole guild to enjoy." Ludwig, huh? I wonder what kind of pokemon that was. "He is a very skilled cook and has a different meal every night. He cooks what the guild brings back from dungeons. The guild master will decide tomorrow which seat you two will sit at." Guild master… must be the guy in charge around here.

"Are those pictures of all the people in this guild?" Zyla asked. Topsy nodded.

"Some of them are current members, and a some others are from a long time back." She looked about the room, memories flooding through her. "Some of the members we get at this guild move on to bigger and stronger guilds. Others grow old and retire. Some even start a guild of their own. When they leave we all get a little sad, but whoever you are, wherever you go, we always leave a picture of them and their team here. The guild master says that they eat with us every night, regardless of where they are." This leader sounds like quite the guy. I think I like him already.

"Wow," Zyla whispered.

We walked past the table and into another room. In this one, there was a large billboard with various pieces of paper that had been pinned on it. Several pokemon were observing it, talking amongst themselves and several times pulling a carefully chosen paper before walking down another ladder. On the other side of the ladder was a munchlax behind a desk, carefully lining up some potato chips on his palm. I thought at first he was playing with his food until I saw him slap himself in the face to try, shedding salt and shards of the chips that didn't make it all around. He lowered his hands and began chewing the chips that had made it in his mouth, the look of ecstasy on his face. Now I was sure we was playing with his food.

Topsy rolled her eyes and approached him. "Major." The munchlax opened one of his eyes at her. "What did I tell you about making a mess?" He took a moment to clear his mouth, lick his lips and fingers, then sigh.

"It's not a problem," he said in a relaxed voice. "I lick up the crumbs anyway. I'm part of the solution." Topsy sighed.

"Be sure to clean up after yourself," she said.

"Roger," Major replied, leaning down to eat any of the crumbs that had gathered on his desk. The espeon sighed, obviously defeated.

"Anyways, this is where we pick up jobs." She gestured to the billboard. "Over there, desperate pokemon put up jobs. Usually it's to save their friends, but sometimes we are asked to retrieve items and beat up rogues from mystery dungeons. You can start on the easier jobs once we have your registration setup." She narrowed her eyes at Major. "If you want to accept a job, take the paper over here and this big oaf will get you started." The munchlax noticed his name had been said, but he was too into licking up the crumbs to care. "You guys understand?"

"Of course!" Zyla said. Something told me that she already knew this. She was really into becoming an adventurer, I didn't doubt she knew how to do the majority of what's going on. The only part of the tour that was really needed was knowing where everything was for her. Me, I needed to know everything. Mystery dungeons? What were those? And why were there so many that guilds like this needed to be built?

"Who are these two?" A booming voice roared. I felt a heavy hand grab the back of my collar and lift me into the air. I wanted to lash out, but a better part of me knew not to. And I was not in the wrong. For when my captor turned me toward him, I was looking into the eyes of a familiar pokemon.

Mewtwo dangled me like a baby kitten, eyes furious.

Zyla And Zakuro Discovered The Guild!

Zyla Is Getting All Fired Up!

Zakuro Has Been Caught!

Saving Game…

Game Saved!


	5. I Find A Team Member!

Chapter 5

I don't know how you're supposed to handle being held by the strongest legendary around, but I'm pretty sure that freezing up was the right thing to do. My limbs became stiff and my body tensed. I felt the color drain from my face. What was going on? Was I going to die?

"Zazz," Topsy snapped. "Stop scaring her."

"I haven't tasted a shinx before," the mewtwo oddly named Zazz hissed. "I wonder what a small, furry electric type tastes like. What's your name?" I blinked at him. There was something off about this pokemon. Mewtwo's eyes were red. Weren't mewtwo's eyes purple? And his tail, it was supposed to be scaley and long. This mewtwo had a fluffy black tail. This joker wasn't the real deal. My limbs relaxed.

"You're not mewtwo," I whispered. "You're a zorua." Zazz blinked. Then, a wide smile crossed his face.

"Hey, you're not half bad." He dropped me. I landed on my feet the same time he poofed out of his current form and into his regular self. At first when I saw that parts of his fur were blue instead of red, I thought he had made himself look intimidating. But that wasn't the case.

He was a shiny pokemon.

He nodded at me. "Pleased to meet you, Zakuro. I overheard your arrival from the door keepers. You and Zyla sound like quite the misfits." He smiled a toothy grin. Wow, this guy had a ton of sharp fangs. I rolled my tongue over my own. Only the canines were sharp in my mouth. I probably looked a whole lot less intimidating when I smiled in greeting.

"Misfits?" Zyla drew his attention to her. She lowered her chin to the floor and bared her teeth. Darn it, did everyone around here have a more menacing look to them than me? "Zakuro could've lashed out at you and fainted you in one hit! She's a shinx, you know!" What? Why are shinxes such a big deal around here? Zazz glanced at me, as if he were sizing me up.

"Where you from, Zak?" he asked. I blinked. Oh great. What do I say to this. Thunder Peak, like the had mentioned before? No, I couldn't give them a story with my current knowledge on the subject. I could tell them-

"A ways away, she doesn't want to talk about it." Thank god for Zyla. I was saved. I exhaled in relief. I met her eyes in appreciation. She flashed a smile. Zazz caught our little exchange yet said nothing of it.

"Zyla, Zakuro, this is Zazz," Topsy introduced. "He's one of our more… tricky members." Tricky? I wanted to ask how so, but I felt like it'd go without a direct answer. "He doesn't have a team of his own, so he's been tagging along for teams that are low on people." I figured you'd need more than two people for a team. I don't know where Zyla and I are going to get another-

"Actually," Zazz said with a mischievous smile. "These girls can't have a team with only two members. Sign me up with them."

The whole room went quiet. Even Major, who had been licking up the ground beneath his desk, jumped upwards. His head hit the underside of the table, nearly knocking it over. The pokemon in front of the billboard turned towards us, mouths open in mid-sentence. Topsy's tail, which had once been swishing happily threw the air, had straightened and froze. Dua and Theo, who had been following us without my knowledge had turned into statues. The only thing in the room that moved was the glowing rings on Dua's figure. Zyla broke the stunned silence by look around.

"Why… why is everyone so surprised?" she asked. Zazz laughed.

"Wow you guys, this was a surprise to you?" His fluff ball of a tail trembled in what I considered a happy wag. "It's because of all the teams I could join, I turned them all down. Regardless of the pokemon on the team, how strong and well-known they are, I've always been on my own. So when I asked to be a part of your team, everyone seems to be a bit surprised, to say the least." So this guy was a lone ranger. I'll admit, I was a little surprised, but a part of me was more relieved. At least Zyla and I weren't going to be without a guide.

"Are…" Topsy tilted her head slightly. "Are you sure, Zazz?"

"Couldn't be more sure," he said meeting my eyes. What a strong gaze this guy had. It was like he was looking right through me. Was he trying to try and break me down piece by piece? There was something in his eyes… something that told me he knew something. And that something could only be one thing.

Did… did he know I was a human?

No, that was stupid. Only Zyla knew that, and I had told her upfront. I'd only known this guy for a few minutes. There's no way he knew. No way whatsoever. Pokemon can't read minds, and even if they could, that's Topsy's job. She's a psychic type. But Zazz and his stare. There was no doubt, he knew there was something off about me. It didn't feel good.

It was unsettling.

"But anyways," Topsy said. "Let me show you Zazz's room. You three should be able to fit in there, it's quite nice." She started down the ladder, again jumping down and landing like a pro. Zazz followed us, but Dua and Theo went off and did something else. They were probably bored of the tour by now. It was getting to be around lunchtime, maybe they had gone to eat.

Once we down the ladder, I found myself in a large room with small tables, plenty of seats, and several happy faces. There were pokemon from all different regions, big and small, a few rare and the majority common. Not a single shinx, as I expected. Yet they had a few rare pokemon: gengar, gliscor, even a florges. The most noticeable one, by far, was the shaymin. It was a legendary. But as far as I knew, this world could have several of these pokemon. I didn't quite know how this world worked in comparison to where I was from, but it couldn't be too far off.

…

Right?

The room was big enough to fit a few larger pokemon, maybe a kangaskhan and a lapras. There weren't any more windows, hinting that we were below ground. Explains how there's so much space, too. On each wall there was a hallway to go down. Each hallway had a few rooms on each side. Some were more spaced out than others, indicating that some rooms were larger as well as smaller. We took the hall that was directly ahead of the ladder. It was there we made the first right and into a room that had only one ordinary bed. The rest of the room, however, was darker than the others. Walking into it was walking out into the night. I could see why: the torches had been removed. I figured as much for Zazz. He was a dark type.

"We'll get the beds moved in while you three decide on a mission," Topsy explained. "For now, you three decide on a team name while I tell the guild master of your arrival." She nodded in dismissal, turned around, and left. Zyla and I were left in a room with Zazz, whose eyes glowing uncanningly bright in the darkness. He blinked a few times, looking us over.

"There's enough daylight left to do an exploration today," he said. "Would you guys be willing to go to thunder peak to check it out?" Zyla paused. What? Thunder Peak? Where all the shinx are from? What was he playing at? I narrowed my eyes at him, but I couldn't see through him as clearly as he could see through me. All I know is that the job he picked hadn't been at random. He had some other motive.

And that motive was me.

"S-sure…" Zyla answered, noting my silence. "Who are we saving?"

"No one," Zazz answered quickly. "I need to pay a visit to an old friend and tell him I'm on a team now so he can quit worrying." Worrying about what? His well-being? Zazz didn't seem like the type of guy to go around getting in trouble. If he was, surely the guild would issue him a team, or he would pick one himself.

"Well, are you up for it?" Zazz asked me. I guess I had stayed quiet for so long.

"I'm with Zyla, of course I'll go." He nodded at me. What? Did he think I wasn't going to go? Weirdo. "What about a team name?"

"Team name?" Zyla asked.

"Yes," he said, looking to her. "We need a name before we go anywhere. I say we say something cool, considering our names all start with Z." Zyla paused, a paw to her chin in thought.

"Well… I can't think of anything cool that starts with Z." She looked to me. "Can you, Zakuro?" I paused.

"It doesn't have to start with Z," I said. "What about Team Dream?" Zazz laughed.

"Where did you get Team Dream with that?" he asked. Zyla answered for me.

"Well, if you put all the Z's at the beginning of our names in a row, Zzz, we have the noise people make when sleeping. And when you sleep, you dream! Team Dream is born!" Zazz paused, surprised.

"Wow… I never thought of it that way." He smiled. "What about Team Nightmare, though? That'd be even cooler!" Zyla and I glanced at each other. It was a possibility, but… "Ah, I'm just kidding, there's already a Team Nightmare. Team Dream it is!" He laughed. Already a Team Nightmare, why was I uneasy about them already?

"Anyways, let's grab something to eat." I thought he was going to head to the dining hall, but he just went further into his room and opened a cabinet that I could barely see against the darkness. He took out three things with his paws, and walked over on two legs to bring them over to us after briefly closing it with his back leg. He handed us some apples. "One each. Fill up before the guild master gets here, she has quite the appetite herself." Ah, so the guild master was a girl.

By the time I took the first bite, Zyla had finished hers. Zazz blinked at her, surprised. "Oh, sorry! you should've have the first bite." Zazz chuckled. As they talked, I ate away at the food he had given me. Man, this apple was great. Talk about juicy!

"Nah, you're fine. You've got a big appetite." He looked over at me. "You hungry there? Looks like you haven't eaten in forever." I took the last couple bites and smiled.

"I had something from Leafeon's place before getting here," I said, sweeping the core to the side. "It was good, thank you for the meal." He paused.

"You don't eat the core, huh?" Zyla's face gave it away: pokemon eat the core. Oh. That makes sense. Pokemon aren't as picky as humans. "That's fine, some pokemon don't. Not a lot, but I've never seen a shinx want to let the rest of it to go to waste." He bent down and ate it in one big bite. He swallowed, licking his lips. He met my gaze. "You're a peculiar pokemon, Zakuro." His gaze turned serious. "That wouldn't be a human name, would it?"

Zyla and I were about to struggle to find an answer until Topsy poked her head in. "Guys, the guild master is here." Before we could think to say anything, the two of them walked in. The guild master was glowing. Only slightly, but still, it lit the room to a manageable luminescence. That was a bit weird, especially for a wigglytuff.

Zakuro, Zyla, and Zazz Have Become A Team!

Zazz Is Suspicious!

The Guild Master Has Appeared!

Saving Game…

Game Saved!


	6. Our First Adventure In A Mystery Dungeon

Chapter 6

"Hello, hello!" the guild master said in a cheery voice. "Nice to meet you! Nice to meet you! Welcome to the guild!" She hopped onto one foot and twirled in a circle. The room around us was filled with bright light as she spun. It was so bright, the shadows had all but gone extinct. When she finished, she posed. The glowing aura around her flashed. "I'm Coco! You can call me Coco!" She seemed like a very happy character, a very spontaneous one, too. I would've smiled if it wasn't for the fact that Zazz had basically figured out who I was.

"N-nice to meet you," Zyla started, still as stunned as I was. "I'm Zyla, and this is my friend Zakuro." I nodded to confirm her words.

"Good to meet you!" Coco shouted. "Please, make yourself at home, home! Have you decided the name of your team yet?" Zyla and I exchanged glances. Then I spoke.

"Team Dream, ma'am." She posed again, her aura flaring.

"Of course, of course!" she cheered. "The three Z's! I thought you would be Team Sleep, but how boring would that be? I guess a group of Slakoth's would make that work, but then again, what sort of slakoth would want to go on adventures? One's that go over five miles an hour!" She laughed, slapping her jiggly belly. "Tell me, tell me, where do you plan to go today?"

"Thunder Peak," Zazz replied, lifting his chin slightly. The wigglytuff froze before it could pose again. Her eyes were staring straight forward. I could only imagine she was thinking, but from her half pose, half dance position, the first thing that came to mind was that she had turned to stone. It was like she had lost all life in her. Then, as quickly as she had left, she was back, the flash of her aura signaling her arrival. She posed, this time with a wink.

"Of course, of course! It's a very good place to start for these two! An easy dungeon! Good, good!" She looked to me. "Oh? A shinx? Wow, that's pretty cool! A shinx in my guild! I'll be the first one, I know I will!" First shinx in a guild? Like… ever? Ok, so shinx were more rare than I thought. I nodded at her, unsure what to say. "Good, Good! Now, all of you, I have a gift!" She reached behind her and held out some items. Three bandanas, a bag, a few oran berries, and a badge that had an elegant, almost angel-like look to it. It glimmered a dirty bronze, but Zyla couldn't have looked more overjoyed to see it. She picked it up and held it in the air. It gleamed, as if it was about to do something, but the gleam stopped before becoming too brilliant.

"You know your stuff," Topsy said, smiling. "Only a few people know the power of these badges. I bet it would've worked if we weren't in the guild." Zyla blinked.

"Oh, right! I forgot!" She laughed. "It takes us home, and this is our home now, so there's really no need to use it now, huh?" Zazz chuckled, then picked up one of the purple scarves that had been set down before us.

"Purple… why such a vibrant color, Coco?"

"Hm?" she answered. "Oh, I thought that you all would look darling in it! It's my favorite color!" She clapped her hands together. "Don't forget, we need to celebrate that you finally have a team of your own, so be home by dinner tonight!" She waved, laughing, then left the room. Topsy smiled at us.

"She's got quite the energy, huh?" Yeah, almost too much. I wonder what that bright light around her was. Maybe it was the source of her energy. "Now, are you three going to Thunder Peak right now?"

"Yes," Zazz said. "We'll leave right away." Zyla and I shared glances again, concerned.

"Alright, you know the way out." She nodded. "See you soon." When she left, I looked to Zazz to start talking to him about what he had said, but he was already at the doorway, prepared to leave us behind. He looked over his shoulder and past his fluffy tail, smiling.

"Follow me, you guys!" then he darted out out of the room. Zyla was the first one to take off, right on his tail. I pulled up beside her, ready to meet gazes again, but her face was stuck forward. She wanted to talk to Zazz desperately. I didn't blame her. I wanted to know how he knew I was human as well. She had told me this world had no humans, how was Zazz aware that Zakuro was a human name?

I followed the dark fox pokemon till we had left the guild and were spiraling down the stairs that lead down to the city. Zazz was still running without checking to see if we were following. It wasn't needed, really. Zyla and I were panting heavily. He could just hear us. The zorua, however, was getting along just fine. His paws, light on the dirt, carried him with no sign of exhaustion.

Zazz lead us the way out of town, similar to the way we had come in, and started running a little slower. Zyla and I gladly slowed with him, but not until we had pulled up to his side. His eyes were stuck forward, but he smiled, acknowledging that he saw us. I wanted to start talking, to pry the truth from him, but he had purposely worn us out on purpose: he didn't want to talk for a while, so he had taken the breath out of us by running. If we wanted to talk, we would have to stop. I could already tell he wasn't willing to do that.

The forest we traveled in was covered in flowers and smaller plants that I couldn't avoid as we ran. Some of these plants were familiar, but a lot more were new to me. I somewhat hoped that they weren't just known to the pokemon world, because that meant that here was more than a little different than Earth. If I wanted to get along better, it had to be as similar as my home as possible. I wouldn't do so well if this place was too different.

The trees overhead were patchy. Sometimes we ran a few steps in the shade, sometimes we ran a long distance in the sun. The bushes were small enough to be jumped, but even then I was having trouble. Four legs was turning out to be harder to master than I thought. I was relieved that Zazz didn't see, however. He didn't need more of a reason to suspect me, even if he already knew. After a couple of jumps, I was getting the hang of it. The landing was still rough, but sooner or later I would be a pro.

It was weird walking through the forest without seeing wild pokemon. I guess they all gathered at towns, because no matter where I looked and where we went, there was little to no signs of them. Back in my world I faintly remembered how much they stood out among the wilderness. Was that because Earth was filled with cities and towns, where they would've built places like the town? Were they forced to live in the wilderness because of us humans? The thought made me upset. If humans came here, there was no doubt they might take over tiny towns like Paradise.

By the time we started slowing a bit more to catch our breath, we had covered a good span of land. The trees behind us masked any sign of the town, but the Rainbows of Hope that had been shining over the town was still in sight. They were faint and far, that meant we had been traveling for a while. Now that I payed more attention to the landscape, I noticed that it was… dying. The grass started withering, the trees thinned, the greenery that had masked Paradise was slowly fading away. We were entering somewhere else. Somewhere more dangerous.

The grass turned to stone beneath our paws. The sky was still a deep blue above us, but clouds were starting to mask them. Dull thunder boomed in the distance. I took my eyes off the sky and straight ahead. There was a rocky outcropping ahead. The peaks of it were all small, enough to be climbed in a few minutes maybe, but the one furthest from us was tall, tall enough to be considered a skyscraper. It looked like a rather steep mountain; the only feasible way of getting to top was to hope there was a way to climb it from the inside. Hopefully it was hollow.

Thunder roared again, this time closer. By now we had slowed to a walk. Zyla was still panting but I had some profound energy coursing through me. The sound of thunder, the flash of lightning, it was almost like I had found home again. It was familiar. This place was familiar! That meant… were there clues to why I had changed into a pokemon here? Was there a chance that… that something or someone here could jog my memory? I let the soft wind waft over my fur, brushing it the wrong way. Yes, this place was familiar. But how? I only just landed in the pokemon world.

Or had I?

I took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of approaching rain. The trees around me had thinned out even more now. There was no more green around us. The stone beneath us was dark grey. There were spots where it was darker, almost black. These were spread at random, all of them with branched designs etched on them. Lightning strikes. I may have been an electric pokemon, but I didn't think getting struck by something so powerful would be healthy. The trees that had made it out this far were long dead. Desolate trunks and brittle branches swayed ever so gently in the wind. Not even rock or ground pokemon visited this place. They were constantly battered by wind, rain, and lightning. It was not an ideal place to live.

A drop of rain landed on my left ear. I flicked it off, looking towards the sky. What was once a blue sky was now a grey plane of rolling clouds. The storm was just about to break. Lightning flashed and thunder boomed, this time louder than before. Zazz lifted his head to the sky. His ears slowly moved around, as if he were searching for the source of the thunder. When it sounded again, he looked to us.

"Hurry up, we have to get to Thunder Peak before it gets too wet." He then gestured towards Zyla, who was looking between her paws, where she toyed with a rock while watching. I had nearly forgotten that Zyla was a fire type. Fennekins wouldn't do good in the rain; there was chance she could become seriously injured. I nudged her with my nose and she blinked at me, confused. Then, in sudden epiphany, she started running. Zazz caught up and passed her, leading us straight to the tallest peak.

The rain started falling, but it wasn't quite enough to harm Zyla. It hit her fur and sizzled away almost immediately. The light drizzle was enough to keep her going without second thought. When I thought we were close enough to the tall tower to make it before it started really getting wet, I realized that the three of us had to weave between all of the smaller peaks. Other than the wind, they offered no protection from the rain as it started thickening. Zyla began to cover her face with her ears and press up close to the peaks as we ran around them to try and avoid the rain. This worked a little, but she was have to run faster to catch up with Zazz and I. She eventually gave up and followed, panting from both pain and exhaustion. I pressed up against her side, offering what little shelter I could. Either it worked better than I expected or she needed the confidence boost, Zyla suddenly felt better. She ran beside me, a determined look on her face.

We reached the largest of the outcropping that I guessed was Thunder Peak. There was a wide mouth of an entrance that we wasted no time entering. As soon as we were inside, Zyla fell to her stomach. Zazz and I stopped. The poor fennekin was trembling, cold to the touch. I couldn't offer much except my body to press up against. When I touched my body against hers, she scooted closer and curled up into me. I was not familiar with the touch of another so close, but I dismissed the thought and huddled back. She started to warm. Slowly, but still, she was recovering.

Zazz watched us. I suppose he didn't feel comfortable huddling up with the two of us yet, but he curled his paws under and him and lie down, closing his eyes and calming himself with a deep sigh. His ears twitched before flattening against his head. The blue on his fur pulsed once, giving him a sort of ghostly look in the dark of the room.

It took a while, but when Zyla was finally warm, we all stood up.

"It shouldn't take too long to get through the dungeon," Zazz said, breaking the silence. "There's only a few floors we need to scale." He paused. "You two should take the lead. You'll need some training if you hope to gain experience." I agreed with him. What I didn't agree with was how casual he was taking the previous conversation we had before. We were alone now. Couldn't we talk?

A shifting sound could be heard in the far corner of the room. I nearly jumped when I heard it, but upon closer inspection, it only turned out to be a joltik. The tiny bug pokemon blinked his set of eyes at us before scuttling back behind the rock it had emerged from. Alright, we weren't quite alone, but these pokemon didn't know better right?

Stop it, I told myself. These pokemon aren't entirely wild animals like back in the human world. These pokemon can talk, build cities, and form guilds. They were more intelligent than what I was used to. If anyone, even that joltik overheard the conversation that Zakuro the shinx was a human, all hell might break loose. It was something I didn't feel would be necessary. Zazz had brought us here for a reason. Whatever it may be, I hoped it was good.

I hoped he had brought us here to help us.

I hoped he wasn't just trying to harm us.

"Zakuro," Zazz said, dragging me from my thoughts back into the real world. "That joltik over there. Can you battle it?"

"Oh, yeah. I can do that." The joltik heard my words and jumped up onto the rock, once blue eyes now red in determination. I approached it and put on my scary face, which was probably as intimidating as a box of newborn azurills. The joltik leapt at me quickly, but a quicker part of me reacted. A ripple of electrictricity pulsed over my fur before branching out over my head and shocking the electric bug. My foe squeaked and fell. I had knocked it out in one hit. "There, how was that?" I asked Zazz, looking for some approval. He took a moment to think.

"What level are you?" he asked. I stared at him, unsure of how to answer. "Joltik is an electric type, so using a move of the same type shouldn't do too much damage. But if that simple zap knocked him out that easily, that means you're definitely a higher level."

"I did some battling back in my day," I said. It wasn't a lie. I know I had once been a pokemon trainer. But my pokemon, I couldn't remember them whatsoever. Zazz didn't look convinced, yet he dismissed it. He scanned the room.

"Good news," he said. "The stairs to the next room are right there." Zyla and I followed his gaze. It was dark, too dark for the two of us to see through. But Zazz could see it, and he started to lead the way. We followed, paws treading lightly on the cold and damp stone floor.

The inside of this mountain was dark. I feared for a brief second that we wouldn't be able to see our way around, but an orange light started glowing nearby. Zyla's fur was producing a little bit of light. Ember-like brightness was shedding off her in warm waves. It was pretty to see, really. Even her red eyes, almost dangerous looking in the dark, were pulsing. I tried to stay close to her, but standing near her was a little uncomfortable for me. I would sweat and pant, but my eyes were adjusting as the light increased. That was a plus.

We found the stairs that Zazz had found with his night vision. The pile of rocks that lead to the room directly above looked a little unstable to walk on, but Zazz and Zyla wasted no time staring. I felt uneasy following them, but it turned to be for the best when the room below us exploded into noises of shuffling, rocks falling, and pokemon shouting. I tucked my tail between my legs and darted after Zyla, who had pushed past Zazz, knocking him over. The two of us pressed against each other, terrified. After a brief while, the shuffling stopped and the floor below us went quiet. The only sound to be heard was pokemon as they found new places to roam below us.

"Nothing to fear," Zazz assured, walking over to us. He lowered his head to my height. "Mystery dungeons don't stay the same for long. Every time someone climbs the stairs, the whole floor is rearranged. That's why they call them mystery dungeons." What mayhem, I thought. Why would creatures want to live here? What happened to them if they were caught up in the shifting? Zazz must've been reading my thoughts, because he answered "The pokemon on that floor are unaffected. The room usually finds ways to avoid hurting them. Some pokemon even theorize that mystery dungeons are just huge, playful pokemon. There's no proof though. That's the fun part."

Zyla and I made our way to our shaky legs. "You mean to tell me that every floor changes after we leave it?" Zyla's voice shook. Zazz nodded.

"Yes," he answered. "Each floor changes so drastically that there's almost a guarantee that you will never see the same one again. Best part," he added walking to where the stairs once were. "Once you enter, you have to get all the way through to go back." I darted over to where we have come from. Sure enough, the stairs had been knocked down and the floor sealed over with a fresh layer of dirt. What kind of place was this? Were there wizards hiding somewhere? No, it's just a mystery dungeon. Now that was a huge difference from the human world and this world.

"You look surprised," Zazz said. "Have you never been in one of these?"

"No," Zyla replied. "I stayed away from these! There's no way I could've hoped to do these alone!"

"You didn't have Zakuro with you?"

"No," I replied quickly. He looked surprised I answered. "She and I didn't meet until recently. We've each been on our own for a while." He nodded.

"Then we are all much alike." He started off in a random direction in the darkness. Zyla and I were quick to catch up. We didn't want to be left alone. Not in a place like this. Not without a way out. "They say lone pokemon make bad pokemon. I disagree. I believe pokemon that spend a lot of time alone are stronger." He glanced at us. "But then again, you can't be alone forever." He faced the trail again. Zazz hasn't had a team of his own, I remembered. But he's been in the guild. Was he alone before that?

"Hey," Zyla announced, "there's something over there!" As she pranced to pick up something just out of my field of vision, I noticed that there was something there. An item. Not just any item: a golden bow, one that would look extremely pretty in Zyla's fur. To my surprise, she didn't wear it. She picked it up in her mouth and showed it to Zazz and me. "It's a gold bow," she explained. "What luck! Now we can get some money to buy things!" Oh, you sell it. Well, given the time to look at it, there didn't appear to be any sign of usefulness in it. It looked like any other bland accessory you would get from a contest hall.

Then again, there weren't any contest halls here.

Talk about an overlap.

"Good," Zazz said. "I don't have enough money for the three of us." We continued walking after Zyla had placed the item in our bag. She wanted to carry the leathery-looking sack, insisting that carrying it would make her stronger granted that it didn't have many things in it. For a while we walked in the dark, reaching walls that forked off different ways and rooms that were large empty, and sometimes had items. I couldn't help but notice that the joltik we had seen on the first floor was the only pokemon we had seen. Weren't these dungeons housing other pokemon? I know I had heard some on the first floor.

Now I was getting scared. Were we alone now?

Team Dream Received Their Items!

You Have Arrived At Thunder Peak!

Zyla's Took Rain Damage!

Saving Game…

Game Saved!


	7. My World Exists! I Knew It!

Chapter 7

We reached the stairs and climbed them, Zyla and I faster than Zazz. When they disappeared and the room rearranged, I tried not to jump at the sound. Yet it was still loud and scary, a lot like a golem tearing apart the walls and using rollout on anything that got in his way. Zyla pressed up against me. I bit my lip. I wanted to pull away from her scorching hot fur, but to keep her from being afraid, I refrained. She was scared, and she was my friend. My best friend.

It sounded weird in my mind. Zyla was my best friend. There was nothing better than having a friend, especially with my current situation. I felt my heart swell with happiness. Even in this world, I wasn't alone. Now being scorched by her fur didn't seem near as unbearable. With her by my side, there was a good chance that my stay here would be bearable. Fine. Maybe… even enjoyable. That'd be more than worth it.

We started off again. Luckily the first room we entered on this floor lead to the next set of stairs. When we climbs those and found ourselves in a larger, much darker room, I suddenly felt uneasy. The other two didn't seem to feel it. They just started walking onwards like it was any other room. I followed them, but my paw brushed up against something sharp. I hissed in pain and pulled back.

The room froze. Zyla and Zazz, their backs to me, froze. Instead of turning to see what had happened, their legs stayed up in mid-step. They didn't move, they didn't blink, they didn't breathe. It was like time had stopped around them. The first thing I did was look down at what I had brushed.

A… a coin? That wasn't sharp. I could've sworn that it had jabbed me. I picked it up and held it to my face. On the back, it had an engraving of a pidgeot holding an olive branch. On the back, it had the face of a human.

A human.

The pokemon trainer Red was imprinted on this coin. My heart started racing. But Zyla had said that humans never existed. They were a myth. How did the creator of this Coin be able to perfectly fit the description of Red, a pokemon master from my world? How? Why?

"You, then." I flinched and dropped the coin to swivel around behind me. Two purple eyes shone through the darkness. The whites of each one had a line drawn through them, as if they were anchoring the bright periwinkle irises on the inside. They were wide yet oddly disapproving of me. I felt terror creep through my veins, but I turned around I picked up the coin. I held it up to the pair of eyes, baring my teeth.

"Where did you get this?!" I hissed. "Tell me! I need my memory back!"

"Calm, calm now." The pair of eyes separated slightly. "Your name, please?"

"Zakuro," I replied, voice shaking. "Please, you have to help me. I'm a human and I've been left here. I've turned into a pokemon, I don't know who I was before, and I don't know how to get back!" I held up the coin again. "This man, this man is from my world! Can you take me back?"

"Zakuro," the pokemon spoke. "Please, take a deep breath. Allow me to explain." The eyes dropped to my level. "My name is Skitter. I'm the legendary in this dungeon." Legendary of the dungeon? That must mean each dungeon must have a legendary of its own. Must be quite a few dungeons, then. I wanted to ask what pokemon he was, but he was staying in the shadows to speak. I guess it wouldn't be good idea to question him. "I've heard news of a newcomer to this world: a human in the body of a shinx. As you say, you have no memory, yet when you touched the human artifact I set before you, you recognized it. Therefore, you must be who everyone speaks of."

"Human artifact?" I asked. "Where did you get this?" I held it up to my face for a closer look. I could tell that the person on it was Red. There was no doubt. But there was no memory of where it fit in where I had come from. I remembered the poke dollar, coins and dollars with several pokemon on them depending on the region, but never something like this. It was new to me, the only familiar thing about it was Red, and I only knew him for his fame.

"Us legendaries have the abilities to travel to other worlds, other times, and other dimensions," Skitter explained. "These three are namely the trio of Palkia, Dialga, and Giratina. I've personally never come face to face with these three, but I received this coin from another wise pokemon. It had been picked up in another world and tossed about here and there. No one what it is, but they knew right away that there was a human on it. Here in Paradise, we have no humans. But this coin and various other objects suggest that there is such a thing as them, though not in our world."

"Then how did you get this?" I traced the etching with my paw. "This human, I know him." Skitter looked surprised.

"You… you know who that human is?" I nodded. His eyes widened a little. "Outstanding. So it's true then. You are not from this land. But it's not up to me to decide whether you have gone back in time, space, or world."

"What can I do to get back?" I questioned. He looked down in thought.

"I have never talked to a human before, let alone one with no memory and in a body of a pokemon. But I can only guess that where that coin came from is where you need to go." My shoulders shrugged slightly. "I know it is not of any consolation, Zakuro. But I know my way around this world. I have allies I can speak to. You have a quest of your own to complete: find the first person to come across this coin. I'm sure then there will be a an answer, or at least a path to the answer."

"Thank you, Skitter," I said slipping the coin between my neck and bandana. "Thank you so much."

"Anything for a lost soul." His eyes looked to the right. "One last message. Your friends are going the wrong way. A fairly dangerous wrong way." He glowed for but a second, but I was too slow to catch the shape and form of his body. "When I unfreeze them, have them walk towards where you see my eyes. Do not stray from the path." His eyes closed, and all went black. "Tread on weary paws, human. This world is not as bright and pretty as you may assume."

Zakuro Encountered Skitter!

Skitter Used Scary Look!

Zakuro Is Terrified!

Saving Game…

Game Saved!


	8. I'm Not Dying! I Won't Lose!

Chapter 8

By the time Skitter had left, almost no time had passed. Zazz and Zyla were still walking the opposite way, but they came to a stop when I jumped in front of them. Zazz had a questioning look on his face. Zyla, however, looked concerned.

"What's wrong, Zakuro?" she asked. "Is something wrong?"

"I'll explain later," I said. "We have to go that way." I gestured directly behind them. They both looked that way. The zorua met my eyes after he had examined the path I had chosen with a suspicious look on it. "Please, believe me just for now. We can't go this way."

"What has your fur in knots?" he questioned. "I've been here plenty of times before. This floor is like the back of my paw, it's the easiest one to cross." Without waiting for me to reply, he walked past me. "I swear, it's like you had just seen a ghost."

"Listen to me!" I hissed. I bit his tail and dragged him back to me. There was something in his that told me he was beginning to get annoyed, but there wasn't any chance I was going to back down. "I know we just met and you think I'm sketchy already, but we can't go that way! We have to go this way!"

"Why?" Zazz shouted. "Why in the great pokemon world would make you think we needed to go opposite of where we really need to go?" I was panicking. Skitter had said that there was something dangerous that way. He knew about the coin, the human world, and about me, so why was there any reason not to trust him? I had to convince Zazz. Zyla was just as confused, looking between the two of us with a concerned look. How could I convince them?

A thought came to me. To keep Zazz in place, I stepped on his tail. There was a good chance he was about to lash out at me, but before he could, I sucked in a giant breath. Static started gathering around my mouth as I took in the most air I could. By the time I was done, electricity was rippling over my fur in bright waves. Zazz stopped, blinking in surprise as I spat a ball of static energy out into the dark. It hit something just out of our eyesight in the dark.

Zyla let out a scream. Zazz and I froze in place as the pokemon, charged by my blast lit up on his own. Thunder roared directly above us, as if there was only a thin layer of dirt between us and the sky. The pokemon began to slither towards us, red eyes ignited in rage. It reached towards Zyla with it's three claws, hissing loudly. I grabbed her by the collar and pulled her backwards, where Zazz had already retreated.

The pokemon roared and a blast of lightning broke the roof above us, striking the ground between us and our foe. The eelektross hissed again, the fin on top of its head standing up straight in challenge. Zazz looked from me to it, than me again. He wanted to question, but he didn't want to be fried.

"Alright you two!" he finally said. "Get ready for some real experience!" He jumped into the air and landed right on the snout of the eel pokemon. His teeth sunk deep into the flesh of the beast, who howled in rage. Eelektross shook his head back and forth, tossing Zazz into the air and into the darkness, where I could hear him land on his feet and skid a few feet back.

Zyla had turned as solid as a statue, probably hoping that the beast didn't see her. The beast illuminated nearly the whole room, however, so it was impossible not to see her bright orange fur against the grey stone. Roaring, the beast dove for her.

Something came over me, something that I had felt just as strongly back in my world: a sense of protection. I darted forward, electricity coursing through my veins and over my fur. As soon as the beast came close enough to strike at the fennekin, I was at its throat, scratching and biting with all the power I could muster.

The same feeling I had felt swept over Zyla. Growling like an angry cat, she jumped forward and scratched the beast as well, rendering his eyes useless. He shook the both of us off, rearing his head to the sky and screeching. I thought we had gained an advantage until I saw lightning strike through the ceiling again, this time completely exposing the room to air. The shattered remains of it were easy to escape from and climb over, but now the battlefield was going to be harder to run across.

I took a step onto a rock nearby. The foe swiveled to me, the four teeth around his mouth opening and closing, as if it were imagining what I would taste like. He struck, grazing my fur as I took to the sky and landed on the back of his head. He reached up towards me to pry me off, but instead jabbed himself with his own claws. He screeched as his health was severely damaged. I jumped off and landed nearby as he writhed, trying to make sense of what happened.

How had he known where I was? He couldn't see. He wasn't a psychic pokemon, who could always detect the minds of those nearby, or a dark type, who could point out living things in the darkness. He was an electric type, just like me.

I paused. The sky was filled with lightning and thunder. It was so intense directly above us that static was running up and down our furry bodies. There was no rain to wash it away, so there was no doubt about it: the eelektross was using the movement of static in the air to find us. Zyla and Zazz hadn't noticed this yet, so they worked to try and get at a safe distance away. That was when the eelektross lunged again, this time at Zazz. He managed to jump out of the way, but his foe followed him, nearly biting off his tail. He landed a ways away, a tuff of his tail removed from the quibble. He landed a good ways away, frozen in fear.

"He can sense us with static!" I shouted. The pokemon turned to me again. "Hold still until I have a plan!" The two of them did as told, but the look on their faces confirmed their fear as well as mine.

I had no plan.

I sidestepped right as eelektross tried to bite my head off. His face rammed the dirt and debris that has once been the ceiling. He roared, frustrated, then held still. He was waiting for us to move, for us to blink, for us to breathe.

This was hopeless, I began to realize. This was a fully evolved pokemon. It was blinded yet still had the full ability to see. If we were to run, he would chase. Our attacks had done nothing but bother it. We weren't going to win by biting and scratching it. We had to use better moves.

Yet what other moves could cripple a pokemon with no weakness?

I watched the pokemon as it began sifting through the dirt in front of it, hoping I was buried somewhere beneath. The scars he had dealt upon himself were much worse than the ones we had dealt. Maybe if we kept throwing rocks at him… Wait. No. That wasn't going to bring him down.

His health was already diminished because he had hit himself.

And if he had done that before.

Then he'll definitely do it again.

I whistled. Zyla and Zazz looked to me, mouths agape and eyes wide. The only one who didn't seem surprised was our foe as he looked to me, licking his lips in an O formation. He charged, this time being sure to avoid hitting the debris. As soon as he neared, I jumped, not high enough to where he could sense and follow, but high enough to where I could land on the back of his neck.

"You idiot!" Zazz hollered. "What are you doing?!" Eelektross turned to him, ready to strike, but I bit him as hard as I could. It wasn't much, but he reacted just how I planned. I jumped off his neck and to his tail as he stabbed himself where I had once been. He screamed in pain as the damage he dealt himself began to wear away at his health. Suddenly, Zazz and Zyla seemed like they understood. Helpless, they watched as I bit our foe yet again on tail.

He tried spinning around in circles to throw me off, but my claws and teeth were set deep into his slimy, fish-tasting flesh. As soon as he stopped, he scratched himself, nearly pulling off his tail. I bit onto the fin on top of his head, tearing off the thin membrane that acted as a sail. Pink tears started pouring out of his eyes as he began to realize the trouble he was in. He punched the top of his head, hoping to catch me but instead breaking his fin entirely.

He threw himself down in the rubble, where he began rolling back and forth in an attempt to dislodge me. This was more effective than the others, for I began to be beaten by the rocks and slip when he turned. I only saw one place I would be safe: his mouth.

He was so overcome by the pain he was already in, he didn't notice me stick my body in his mouth. The only damaging part about it was that he squealing was making my ears ring. But now that I was safe, I had to finish him.

I inhaled, taking in the stench of old meals the pokemon had eaten. The static around me began to gather more and more by the second. The beast paused. He had noticed that I was no longer on him. For a second, he rejoiced. But that rejoice ended when I exhaled, using a strong spark that curved down his throat and his his stomach.

The pokemon let out one last, ear piercing screech before his stomach turned and he threw up everything he had ever eaten, including me. I fell into a puddle on the rocks, squirming to try and find a paw hold amongst the rocks while covered in slippery brown slime. Zyla raced over to me and lifted me by the scruff, nearly vomiting herself when she got a mouth full of puke. Eelektross went silent as his body sizzled, nearly ablaze from the blast and the last of his health dropped to zero. The body of the beast went limp, almost as limp as a blanket as the sclaey beast relaxed against the jagged stones.

Zazz jumped over to him and put a hand on his neck. Sighing when he felt a pulse, he looked to Zyla and I as I found the flattest stone I could to lie on and breathe. Breathe in the air and catch my breath. Sure, I was covered in gruel and the remains of unlucky prey, but I had won.

I had beaten my first powerful pokemon.

The thunder that had once roared in rage and the lightning that had struck the ceiling down stopped. The three of us looked to the skies as the clouds cleared, revealing the darkest, deepest blue. Peaks that had once been hidden by the dark black clouds were suddenly revealed. On them several other electric pokemon roamed freely, taken aback by the sudden change in weather. They looked to the sky and their faces were suddenly filled with joy. That joy was suddenly gone when a few pokemon on lower portions of the mountains pointed us out. The look of glee on their faces turned stern and cold as they saw us. A few curious pokemon jumped from high peak to peak, trying to get a closer look at us.

Now that there were more pokemon around us, I stood and bared my teeth at whoever drew near. They blinked and backed away, surprised as my sudden hostility. Zazz punched me in the shoulder, nearly toppling me over.

"Stop it," he hissed. "They're not going to attack you."

"Zazz," one of them, a shinx like me, spoke, "is that you?" The dark fox pokemon puffed out his chest to give him a bigger appearance as the electric pokemon drew near to try and sniff him. When she did, he nodded. "It's true, then! Zazz has returned!"

These words drew all pokemon out of the caverns on the sides of the cliffs. Luxio, joltik, tympoles, magnemites, elekids, pikachus, and every other electric pokemon you could think of exposed themselves. Some looked excited, others worried, a few curious. They all began to jump down to our height, where they swarmed around us in a large group. The smaller, younger ones came first and started asking Zazz a bunch of questions before playfully pouncing on him. He rolled around with them in his fur, laughing.

I was just as puzzled as Zyla, but the two of us didn't attack any of these pokemon as they came forward to sniff us. Almost all of them drew away when they caught a whiff of what I was covered in. But, by far, the majority of these beasts were taken aback when they saw the crippled form of Eelektross on the rocks nearby. He wasn't dead, but they sure looked happy to see him in such a state. A few larger pokemon, flaafies in general, began to lift him over their heads and take him away. I wasn't sure where, for the crowd masked them as they left.

The whole thing was overwhelming. The pokemon, the previous battle, and even more so the stench of vomit covering my body. I tried to wipe it off, but it stuck to my paws and stayed there. The only thing I could do was roll around in a patch of dirt nearby to try and mask it. Zyla stayed close by me as more pokemon began to approach, asking questions in voices that overlapped to the point of being impossible to hear.

"Silence!"

The crowd winced as the powerful boom of a voice shut every one of them up. Zazz stood up, shaking off the remainder of the pichu and dedenne. When the crowd turned, I followed their eyes. On the highest cliff perched atop the tallest peak was a luxray. She lie, paws dangling, on the edge of a rock that reminded me of the one Simba had been raised up on during _The Lion King._ Instead of brilliant yellow eyes, hers was a deep orange. She looked fierce, with many battle scars and patches of fur missing in several places. She had seen battle, that was obvious. But the part of her that stuck out the most was her tail, which had not a star at the end, but two.

"It appears we stand in the midst of Zazz." She paused. "And he has brought us the human girl."

Wild Eelektross Appeared!

Wild Eelektross Attacked!

Zakuro Defeated The Wild Pokemon!

A Luxray Appeared!

Saving Game…

Game Saved!


	9. It Makes Sense Now Sorta

Chapter 9

My first thought: grab Zyla and run. We had walked right into a trap. We were cornered with no way out. I considered lashing out and attacking Zazz before he thought of anything, but I met the eyes of the luxray. They were soft, caring almost. Zyla hadn't seen this yet and pressed up against me, terrified. She trembled.

"Are you sure?" Zazz asked. The luxray bowed her head.

"I have never been this sure." Slowly, the electric pokemon heaved herself to her feet. "I have never seen a pokemon her size take on that Eelektross. Then again, I have never seen a pokemon take on the Eelektross and win." She jumped off the ledge and the pokemon scattered, some in a rush, to try and give her some space. She landed in the spot the pokemon had cleared, directly in front of me. Her tail whipped back and forth as she scanned me. "What is your name?"

"U-um, Zakuro." Zazz gestured for me to say more. Panicked, I added, "Ma'am." The luxray blinked.

"There is no need for formality here, Zakuro. I am Rubye." She leaned slightly to meet my gaze. It was hard to meet her eyes, but then again, I couldn't seem to look away. "You are not from this world, are you?"

"N-no," I answered. "I'm from Earth." The crowd began talking amongst ourselves. Zyla was still pressed up to my side, but the murmuring made her even more uneasy. She pressed against me harder. "I'm a human, too." Zazz nodded. So I was supposed to trust this luxray. Sure, Zazz had brought us here to meet someone but I didn't expect this.

"Words cannot explain how much is an honor it is to meet a being from another world." Rubye lowered her head, then lifted it. "What brings you here?"

"I…" I paused. The eyes of all the other pokemon were on me. It was like a giant weight, talking before all these strangers. The luxray turned to them, and about every one of them turned the opposite way. "I don't know." A few looked to me now, surprised.

"You… don't know?" she whispered. "Surely this must be a purpose to why you're here? Did a person from the human world send you here as a punishment? To experience being a pokemon? Are you saying you do not know because you are talking to me?"

"No, no, no," I said quickly. "It's not that. It's just… I woke up here. And I couldn't remember anything. I just know that I was once a human and that my name was Zakuro. I remember being a trainer and having pokemon, but the rest… I can't remember." Zazz and Rubye looked towards each other. "I'm not lying," I added. "I swear."

"We do not think you are lying," Rubye explained. "We just expected this moment… the meeting of an actual human… I thought you would know what brought you here." She saw the coin that I had tucked in my bandana. "That. What is around your neck?" Now all the pokemon had their eyes on me. I took off my bandana, paw shaking, and dropped it on the ground. The coin fell, but I caught it. After wiping as much vomit off it as possible, I held it up in the air to her.

"I found it on the level before us." I paused. "Before it was… um, destroyed."

"I know what my dungeon spawns," she objected. "That is not from below."

"I agree with you," I said. "One of your pokemon, a guy named Skitter, he set it there for me to find. He started-"

"Skitter?" Rubye explained. "You have spoken to him?" All the pokemon's eyes went wide at the name. The murmuring started up again, this time louder. Did I say something bad? Was Skitter a rogue or something? "Then it is what I thought. You are the human this world needs."

"Ex-excuse me?" I was stuttering. What did she mean 'human this world needs'? Was I that special?

"Let me explain, Zakuro." She gestured with her tail for me to follow her. When I began to do as instructed, the pokemon parted to let me through. Zazz followed closely behind, instructing Zyla to do the same. Relieved she wasn't going to be left behind, she padded up to my side, delicately pressing her side against mine. "This mountain is old, so very, very old. There have been pokemon on it for many generations. Our ancestors may have not known everything, but they have known something quite important."

The last of the pokemon cleared out of our path. I couldn't see what was ahead because Rubye was big enough to mask it, but when she moved out of the way, she revealed a slab of stone. It was as wide as it was tall, and oh my was it big. The paint that had been used on it glowed in the sunlight. If any part of it was shaded, the ink was invisible. On it, revealed in the broad daylight, was a pictograph of a girl with purple hair and a face that had been smudge away over time. She was skinny and tall, yet her form matched that of a teenager. She took a few steps across the slab and slowly her form started to change. After only a few paces, she had taken on the form of a shinx. The shinx took a few more steps, and she picked up a set of diamond armor, which she wore.

As the pictograph went on, this shinx gained many followers, all of which had been smudged from the slab over time. Yet as the story went on, it became clear that only two of these followers stuck to her side. These two fought fierce battles with her against unidentifiable pokemon, almost all of them angry, large, and terrifying. Yet no matter how many evil pokemon she defeated and how much she and her team evolved, the world around them became darker and darker. The sky turned red, the grass started to wither, and the pokemon she faced became bigger, badder, and harder to defeat. Even her companions felt the evil in the world consume them. Yet this shinx was powerful and brave. She healed her friends and took on all evil and won without second thought.

At the end of the pictograph, it showed her taking on the final enemy, something that resembled a red snowflake with sharp edges and a red aura. It was then she, all on her own, as a fully evolved luxray, she challenged the great evil. That was when the story was cut short. The slab had been broken off and shattered from old age, so the ending was left at an unsatisfying cliffhanger. Whether or not this shinx defeated the evil snowflake was unknown.

"This..." Zyla whispered, placing her paw on the shinx in diamond armor, "is this Zakuro?" Rubye lowered her head in a nod.

"I believe it is," she answered. "The pictograph can only be read in broad daylight, which is an extremely rare occurrence here at the top of Thunder Peak. When Zakuro defeated the Eelektross and the sun was revealed, it became clear."

"Is that the only way you knew this shinx was me?" I asked, looking around. There were a good couple of shinx, all of them blinking at me. "There's a lot of shinx here. Surely any of them could be the one in the prophecy?"

"The prophecy speaks of a human girl becoming a shinx," Rubye explained. "As you can see, all these shinx have been born and raised here on Thunder Peak. If any of them had been human, I would have known immediately. After all, the shinx you see, does not enter our world as a newborn, but a teen." I paused. That was true. Out of all the shinx who had been born into this world, I was the only one who had entered as a teen. No wonder shinx were so rare, Rubye probably kept them here to find the one the prophecy looked for. I paw my paw on the human who had purple hair and no hair.

Was… was that me? I once had purple hair? I tried to picture what I looked like, but my thoughts automatically turned to the shinx gathered around me. How was I going to get my memory back? How long was I going to be in this form? How… how could I get back?

"I can't give you much more information," Rubye said. "But I can tell you something with utmost certainty." She waited till I met her gaze. Her orange eyes blazed in confidence. "You are the hero shown on this tablet. And if all else fails, we hope you can become the one to save our world from destruction." I wasn't sure what to think. I had been brought here to fight some sort of evil snowflake, several powerful pokemon, and to what end? Was I just doomed to fail? Maybe the tablet was just some sort of joke the ancients played on us.

The pokemon around me didn't seem to think it was a joke. As they bowed, Rubye leading them, I felt the weight of this world fall on my shoulders. I didn't realize it until the first drop of tears fall onto my paws. I stood there, watching all these pokemon praise me if I was a goddess. I guess it was true: humans have never existed in this world. I was one in a billion. And, according to them, the savior of this world.

Zazz watched me with a stern face. Had this been why he had waited so long to find a time? He had been waiting for a shinx to walk into the guild? Probably. It was obvious now. Zyla, however, approached me and wiped away my tears before they fell. I blinked at her, throat too dry to speak.

"You'll be just fine," she promised. "I'm not leaving your side, alright?" As soon as she spoke, Zazz pulled up beside her. I expected him to say something like "The world is in your hands" but he smiled softly.

"Count me in on that." His voice was calmer than ever before. He smiled, sharp teeth gleaming. "Hey, Zyla and I might be the two in the prophecy as well." Yeah, maybe he was right. I wasn't alone in this. But it was hard to look back at the tablet and notice that in the final battle, both of my companions had vanished. Zazz and Zyla weren't going to die, were they? No, I'd rather not think about it. Everything was ok now. There was no real danger.

At least not yet.

"You ready to head back to the guild, human?" I glared as Zazz. He chuckled. "I'm just kiddin'. You're one of us now. We gotta make it seem like you've always been that way, too. So be sure to practice your acting skills, there's a lot of smart people in the guild." He started towards the back of the open area, where I could barely see a set of stairs. "C'mon, we gotta report back to Coco that the mission was a success. We reached the end of the dungeon and got a gold ribbon."

"That's it?" Zyla asked. "I thought there'd be more here…"

"We have a human on our team, a human destined to save this world, and you're asking for more?" Zazz laughed. "You're one of a kind Zyla. Now hurry up you guys, I want to be back by dinner!"

Zakuro Learned Ancient Power!

Zyla And Zazz Joined Team Dream!

Saving Game…

Game Saved!


	10. Chappy And Coco Need My Help!

Chapter 10

"Welcome home! Welcome home!" The guildmaster was the first one to greet us when we returned. She was standing in front of the mouth of the guild, counting the poke cash in her pocket until we stepped up the stairs and saw her. Now I was wondering how long she had been sitting there. Did she do this to all teams when they went out on a mission? No, she would always be waiting out there. Maybe she waited because Zyla and I were new and Zazz had finally picked a team. "How was it? Did it go swell?

"Good," Zazz said. "It went just as planned." Coco paused, absorbing his words. Wait, did Coco know they he took me there because he knew I was a human? Was she in on this whole prophecy thing? Whether she was or not, I couldn't tell. This pokemon was hard to read. Every time she paused, her expression was unreadable. There was no telling what went through her thoughts at any given time.

"Swell! Swell!" she chanted. "Dinner is just about ready so run, run! We don't want to start without you!"

"Thank you, guildmaster." Zazz nodded his head slightly. On soft paws, he padded past her and jumped down the ladder. Zyla followed, still a little uneasy about landing without breaking her paws. When I passed Coco, she pat me on the head. I looked to her, blinking in surprise. She smiled, laughing cutely, then waddled her way past me and jumped down the hole. Her flubbery form got stuck, but after a short while of kicking her feet and wiggling, she was free.

Ok, she definitely knew that I was a human.

The dinner table was almost full when we walked in. There were two or three pokemon there were walking to their seats, so we weren't the only ones late. Zazz showed us where to sit: the center of the table with Zyla on my left and him on my right. There were no chairs, just slightly elevated piles of fur, feathers, and grass. It was comfortable, but I worried if I shifted too much it would get in my food.

"Hey, Zazz is back with Zyla and Zakuro!" The table, once roaring with cheerful talking and happy laughter slowly died down as the voice continued. "I thought those two would be kicked out after the way they attacked me for no reason."

I spotted the voice. Almost directly across from Zyla was Theo, the delibird that had nearly chased us away when we first entered the guild until he had called the fennekin a coward. It turned out this guy was quite the big talker. That was unusual, because Zyla had nearly burned him to a crisp. If it wasn't for me and Topsy, he might've turned into a pile of ash. He was holding up a cup of what looked like dark berry juice. He tipped it slightly at Zyla before sipping it.

"So, how was Thunder Peak? Did you have to give up and come crying back to the guild?" The whole guild waited for an answer. Zyla and I weren't very comfortable being put on the spot. We were beginning to answer when Zazz leaned forward and poof! He disappeared into a plume of smoke. Theo looked bored until the plume suddenly cleared, revealing a tall, evil houndoom. Regardless of the fluffy black and blue tail that was on the end, the dark pokemon was still scary enough to catch the delibirds attention. One look and Theo was out cold. He fell backwards and onto the ground, where the rest of the guild laughed.

So when it came to transforming, Zazz had a bad habit of forgetting to cover his tail. Or could he help it? Surely he was a seasoned explorer. It shouldn't be that hard. But what did I know about zorua's? Not too much, from what I could remember.

"You're a hoot Zazz!" laughed a kricketune further down the table to my right. She was rubbing the sweat off her forehead with with an arm that sounded a soft tune as she did. "Nothing but the best from the guilds only transformer."

"Thank you, Temi," Zazz said. I had been paying so much attention to her I hadn't realized that Zazz had changed back. "But seriously, Zyla and Zakuro did great for their first time." Temi's wings fluttered happily in reply.

"Anything weird about this dungeon?" a taillow asked. "You've heard the news, haven't you?" Zazz shook his head slowly. The pokemon around Taillow look at each other. The rest of the table went quiet. Obviously what she was talking about hadn't reached everyone's ears. But just then, Coco entered the room, skipping her way to the head of the table, where she sat down comfortably in an even bigger pile of floof.

"I have heard!" she said happily, raising her hand into the air. Her forever-stuck smile looked towards the bird that had brought it up. "But just to be sure, can you explain?" She nodded in reply and looked towards the empty other end of the table, too nervous to make eye contact with anyone else. I could feel the tension in the guild start to thicken as they leaned in to get a better view at her.

"It was just this morning," she started. "It's a ways from here, but I'm sure you've all heard of it: the great forest." Well, I sure hadn't heard of it, but I didn't count. I'm from another world. That's sort of a disadvantage here. "The time gear there has been stolen."

"WHAT?!" The combined shout of Zyla and the entire guild seemed to rock the ground beneath me. I put a paw in one ear, making sure it didn't bust. That's when Zazz sent me a glare, "Act like a pokemon." So I put on the most surprised face I could make. He wasn't convinced, but the rest of the guild was far too busy to notice. They were up off their seats, leaning and walking towards Taillow to ask her questions, but she had become so overwhelmed that she was shaking her head and waving her wings at anyone who came near. The guild was in such chaos, Coco had to stand up, wipe the look of happiness on her face, and shout.

"SIT!" she roared. Now, the guild shouting was one thing. But the guild master shouting was a whole different entity. Instead of having to look surprised, it came to me naturally. How could such a cheery pokemon go to hostile in a matter of seconds? Even better, how was she able to shout so loudly? My ears were ringing; I thought I had gotten a headache. The guild, after checking their ears as well, hurried back to their seats and sat down, eyes on their plates. So Coco had some nerve after all. She hadn't just founded the guild and helped it, she had kept it from turning into complete chaos. "Now everyone," she said, back to cheery faster than a pokeball could hit the ground, "please let her explain." She looked to Taillow, who nodded.

"Well, you all know the story: the time gears are set in all the Great Places to keep time flowing. Nobody would ever dare touch them because of how afraid they were of the rumors. You know, being frozen in time forever. But someone wasn't afraid. They just went up and took it. Now the Great Forest is frozen in time. People went to see what was wrong, and when they did, they were nearly frozen themselves! Just coming near the place where the time gear once was nearly paralyzed them!" The table rumbled in surprised whispers.

Time gears, huh? They sounded like the things that kept time flowing around here. Did Dialga not exist in this world? Better not bring it up. Didn't want to draw any attention to myself, especially now that Zazz was breathing down my neck about fitting in.

"So no one saw them?" the spewpa next to Zyla whispered, shivering in his shell. "I suppose there is not immediate guards of it… but surely someone must've noticed the change?"

"They did," Taillow said. "The pokemon in Great Forest had to run for their lives to risk being turned to stone. Luckily no one was hurt or paralyzed, but with all the commotion of running away, no one thought to look out for a pokemon holding a time gear. They didn't even know that happened when you removed it!"

"What does it look like now?" Topsy asked. The taillow hid her face in her feathers.

"Terrible," she whispered. "The whole forest was once so beautiful. It was so green, their were every shades of flowers everywhere. Now it's all grey. Just grey and black. The sun doesn't shine, the moon doesn't rise, and it's all still. Leaves turn to dust when you touch them, and the grass is nothing but dirt. Even the rain is stuck in place. The whole place is utterly ruined!" We lost sight of her face in her wings once more. The table was quiet yet again.

The look of concern on everyone's faces was worrying. The younger pokemon sniffled, as if ready to cry. The older ones had their gazes stuck on their plates. Zazz and Zyla looked absolutely heartbroken, so I mustered up the strength to look the same.

So the time gears kept the time flowing around a certain area, then. Certainly if there was only one, the whole pokemon world would be doomed. But that didn't seem to be the case here. And they said that there were the Great Places. I only suspected those different places are where the other time gears could be found.

"Hm," mused Coco. "Well, it sounds like everyone is pretty concerned. Should we do something, perhaps?" The guild looked up to her. From the look of begging on their kissers and hope in their eyes, the answer was obvious. "Alrighty, then! First thing tomorrow, we will decide which combined group of two teams will go explore the Great Forest!" She raised her cup to the air. "Enjoy the meal, everyone!"

I hadn't noticed, but someone had filled everyone's plates with food. As soon as she spoke, the rest of us cheered, me a little late on the uptake, and began to eat away. The platters consisted of fruit and juice or, if we wanted, moomoo milk. Every bite and mouthful filled me with the tang of only the sweetest berries around. Wow, now that I was a pokemon, this stuff tasted better than when I was a human.

I could get used to this.

It was only after dinner that the guild seemed to calm down. Everyone cleaned their plates off, some even licking it the get every last drop. I had no trouble doing the same thing. Zazz didn't even seem to mind that I licked it clean. He nodded in approval. It was more pokemon-like of me I figured. Coco was the first one to finish. Her way of eating was the take the entire platter in her mouth and spitting out just the plate before swallowing everything thing else without so much as chewing. I wasn't sure if I was to be impressed or disgusted.

When Zyla and Zazz were done, they gestured for me to follow them. I started to until a warm hand tapped my shoulder. My team paused when they saw Coco catch my attention. She smiled at the others and waved at them in dismissal. They exchanged glances before continuing down the hallway without me. I know that Coco wasn't too scary, but her silence was starting to worry me.

"Can I talk to you, Zakuro?" she asked. Suddenly her eyes were soft. The glowing golden aura around her pulsed softly. The dread I felt before was soothed at the sight.

"Oh. Yeah, you can talk to me." I turned and followed her down the hallway. Just at the end of the dining hall was a door in the shape of wigglytuff, which the appropriate own walked through. As soon as we were inside and the door was closed, I was better able to get a look at my surroundings.

The ceiling was higher than the other rooms, leading up to a small ball of fire that hand from a chain directly above us. The walls were decorated with pictures of Coco and a chatot smiling and laughing together. The floor was entirely covered in fluff, as if Coco couldn't stand to walk on dirt or grass. There were two desks in there. One was obviously Coco's, judging by how much she had painted herself on it, while the other was cleaned and clear of anything besides paperwork. Next to the desk on a bed that had been heavily used was a chatot. He was asleep, tossing and turning fiercely. He tore up the bed as his nightmares tormented him. But even as he started pecking away at the desk next to him, Coco refused to get closer.

"He's sick," she said. For the first time, the guildmaster looked worried. Her ears sagged and tears rimmed her eyes. She wiped away from snot that had begun to trickle down her nose. "I know… I know about you, Zakuro. Zazz told me long ago about the prophecy." She gently took my paws and lifted me to meet her eyes. "I know there's not much of a chance… but please… help my best friend."

"What?" I whispered softly. "Can… can he not wake up?" I asked. She shook her head and set me back down, dropping to her butt in the process. I followed her, showing I was watching closely.

"He went to the Great Forest this morning." My mind clicked. Oh no. Had he been caught up in the halting of time? That had to be the case. But it didn't make sense. How could time stopping give a pokemon nightmares they couldn't wake from? Better yet, how in the world was I supposed to fix it? "I found him in front of the guild after you left… I don't know how he got this far and collapsed on the front door. No one else had seen him; they had been eating lunch. Nobody else knows and… and if I tell them, there's no doubt they will panic." She sniffled. "Please, help Chappy."

I stared at her, then to Chatot, then to her. What did she think of me? Humans didn't have any superpowers. Humans were smart and built machines and tore down forests. Whenever you heard of this kind of stuff, it was in fake science magazines. My gaze settled on Chatot, who was crying, huddled in a ball, trembling. Now that I thought of it, this world had magical gears that helped time flow.

Maybe there was a chance humans were more capable of several things than just turning into pokemon.

I approached Chatot slowly. He had his back to me, but I could see the tears flowing down his beak. His feathers were ruffled and dirty. In this condition, there was no way to get him to bathe. He needed to be woken up. As soon as I approached him, he turned to me. I stepped back, expecting a talon down my face or a beak to my eye, but he just quivered. The poor pokemon was tantalized. I held out my paw, anxious to set it on him.

Please, I prayed. Whatever god exists in this world, help me heal him.

My paw made contact with him.

I crumbled to the floor as a sickening wave of nausea hit me. My vision flashed. At one moment I was seeing color, the next was black and white, and the last was some sort of dizzying twist as the world dropped from beneath me. I tried to scream, but my mouth wouldn't move. My paws tingled as I began to lose feeling in them.

Then, I saw him. Chatot. He was just as he was in the real world, lying on his side, crying. The only difference was that he his wings over his head as he whimpered. The forest around us was bleak. The wind didn't blow, the sun had disappeared, and an eternal night was settling over this cold, dark world. I heard menacing laughter coming from everywhere around me: the bushed, the sky, underground and all around. It gave me the chills.

"Who's there?!" Chatot jumped to his feet. He saw me and blinked. For a moment, he thought he was hallucinating. He rubbed his eyes, looked around, and blinked several times. But before him was I, and I was real. "Are you here to torment me, too then?" he asked. "Here to throw me under a grimer? Or feed me to an arbok? No thank you." He fluffed up his feathers menacingly. "I'll kill you." His words were harsh. "I'm not going willingly this time."

"No," I said, stepping away. He saw the gesture and paused to narrow his eyes. "No, Chappy, listen."

"How do you know of me?" he questioned. He jumped towards me but kept his form in place. "I'll peck your eyes out, I'm not afraid of a shinx." The both of us froze when something to my right growled. The menacing eyes of a poison pokemon shone through the darkness. Chappy froze, suddenly frightened. Though the pokemon had once the intent to kill, it backed away and disappeared.

"Listen," I said again. "Coco sent me. She needs you to wake up." Chappy paused, processing what I said.

"Wake up…?" he echoed.

"Yes," I said. "You're in a dream. Or, we are. I need to take you back." I held out my paw to him. Though he looked afraid, my softening stare was enough to bring him closer to me. Just as his wing met my paw, the pokemon jumped out from the shadows. He retreated, ready to run, but I wrapped my paws around him in the hopes that something would work.

It did. The two of us opened our eyes in unison as we found ourselves back in the guild, where Coco sat with her hands put up in prayer. She heard us stir, looked up, and nearly cried. Chappy was awake. He stood up, hissing as he readjusted his wings from the beating they had taken in his sleep. Coco came over and forced herself not to the the wounded pokemon.

"It worked…" she whispered, tears starting to fall down her face. "Chappy… Chappy, you're alright!" The confused bird pokemon looked left, right, to me, then to Coco. His eyes softened at the sight of his best friend.

"I'm…" he started, his voice hoarse. "I'm not in the Great Forest anymore?"

"Not anymore," Coco whispered. "You made it home!" His eyes went from pained to surprised. He looked around once more to make sure he wasn't mistaken, then met my eyes. There wasn't much I had to say, so I just bobbed my head once.

"You," he whispered. "Are you the shinx from my dream?" I nodded again. The whole scene that had taken place shocked me. Just by touching him, I had somehow traveled into his dreams and brought him back. No idea how, but it worked. He was safe and he was sound. That's all I needed to know. "Well," he continued, fluffing his feathers so they all lie flat. "I suppose a shower is in order." He nodded to me once. "Good day." Then he waddled his way to the door, opened it with his beak, then left, leaving the door cracked.

"Don't mind him," Coco said. She was back to herself. Her eyes were bright, she smile wide, the golden aura around her pulsing in sync with her words. "He doesn't like being saved that often. He's probably embarrassed a stranger had to help."

"Oh, well, that's alright." I met her gaze. "Did you know how I was able to do that?" She blinked, confused. "How I was able to save him. Do you know how I did it? What it means?"

"Nope," she said, holding out her hand. "But high five! That was great!"

Zakuro Learned Dream Hop!

Chappy Is Fully Healed!

Coco Is Happy!

Saving Game…

Game Saved!


	11. Great Forest, Oh No!

Chapter 11

By the time I had returned back to my room, Zyla and Zazz were asleep. Zyla had moved her bed closer to mine, which I bet took some work because the bed was misshapen and lopsided. Either way, the fennekin slept without sign of nightmares. Zazz was the same. Though, by the shaking of his tail, one could only assume he was having a good dream. Thank goodness, I told myself. The last thing we needed was one of them falling prey to what Chappy had encountered.

I walked up to my bed and plopped down amongst the fluff. It was soft and warm. Probably because Zyla was unbelievably warm next to me. It was like sleeping next to a heater. Relieved that I wouldn't spend the night alone, I curled up next to her and and tucked my tail over my nose. The two of them breathing soothed me. Without even realizing it, I was asleep.

The morning came almost too soon. Sounds of pokemon walking around the guild had already woken Zyla, so when she stood up, I lost my source of heat. I opened my eyes softly. Zazz was up, too, but he had already left. An early riser, then. Maybe back in my world I was just the same. After a bit of thought, however, I deemed that thought a lie.

Zyla nudged my side. "Zakuro, time to get up. They have breakfast here, too."

Alright. Now that was something I would definitely get up for. Zyla helped me to my feet. Ow, my paws were sore from the day before. Hopefully we didn't have to go anywhere else anywhere soon. Thunder Peak had been an adventure already. Maybe Zazz would make it so the three of us could take the day off.

Zyla and I trudged our way out of Zazz's abnormally dark room. It was annoying to be blinded right when we walked out of his room. How much did dark pokemon need to be in the dark? Maybe the room's light could be rearranged. Now that Zazz had roommates, we talk to him about changing it.

Zyla and I started up the ladder. When we were at the top, yet again, we were one of the last people at the table. The weight of what had happened the night before didn't hit me until I caught sight of Chappy, awake and clean, at the other end of the table. He caught sight of me and blinked. Maybe he was just as surprised as well. What kind of new guild recruit saved him from nightmares you couldn't wake from by jumping into his dream?

Oh, right. Me.

Zazz greeted us when we approached our spots. "Good morning, slakoths. You ready for another day of adventuring." Oh great. So we were adventuring. And just when I wanted to sleep more.

"Where are we going today?" Zyla asked, taking her seat. "Just doing some missions?"

"Dunno yet," he replied, leaning to keep meeting her eyes when I had taken my seat as well. I yawned and rested my chin on the table. What kind of jobs could you do here? Maybe guilds in this world were like police stations, keeping the peace and helping the public. "We can pick one later on."

The table was all seated now. The same pokemon I had seen before were talking idly. They didn't even seem to remember what Taillow had talked about the day before. I was probably right. The time gear thing hadn't been too big of a deal, or else they'd be in complete chaos. I sighed. It was like I was the only one worried. Not about the time gear thing, but the Chappy thing. There were so many questions spinning around my head I hadn't noticed that the table had gone quiet and Coco had drawn everyone's attention until Zazz nudged me with his elbow.

"Everyone," the wigglytuff spoke. "You heard the news yesterday. Great Forest has been frozen in time because the time gear has been stolen. Chappy and I have agreed that it is our duty as a guild to find out who is behind this. So, two teams will be sent to the forest in order to investigate!" The guild cheered.

Hm. A trip to the Great Forest. Must be quite the trip. I wondered what the place looked like up close. Maybe like the forest in Chappy's dream.

...

You know, now that I thought about it, that might be exactly what it looks like now.

That fact concerned me slightly.

"Alright, everyone, Chappy are going to speak one last time while you eat." Coco and Chappy stood, bowed in dismissal, and waddled their way off to their office. The closed the door tightly behind them.

Shoot, I had completely missed the pokemon handing me food again. They must be pretty good at blending in with the crowd, because there weren't any pokemon in the room that weren't seated. That didn't matter now. I had a delicious plate full of food in front of me, and I wasn't going to waste time to devour it.

Halfway through my meal, a bunnelby on my side of the table started speaking up.

"You think they're deciding which teams to go out to the Great Forest?" Her voice carried all the way to the other side of the table.

"Without a doubt," Taillow stated. She licked her beak, wiping the remainder of the meal off. "They're probably going to send one of the more powerful teams. Who knows what's out there now? It could be filled with a bunch of dangerous pokemon. Or worse, the pokemon that took the time gear."

"They wouldn't stay there," a hoothoot disagreed. "Think about it, if you stole something that valuable, would you stay there? No, they took off and ran."

"But who are they sending?" Taillow asked. "There's a lot of strong teams in this guild. Who do you think can take on something dangerous?"

"Well, Topsy's team has been here the longest." The spewpa who had spoken the day before shivered. "They are pretty powerful…. I can't imagine that Coco wouldn't send them." Topsy, having heard them, smiled.

"Now, now," she assured. "Just because we've been here the longest doesn't mean we're the most powerful. I'm sure there's plenty of capable teams in the guild." The silence that followed was doubtful.

I was licking my plate clean again when Coco and Chappy emerged. The whole guild dropped their plates on the table and turned to them. I was a little late to follow, but no one noticed. Zazz rolled his eyes at me, though.

Coco sat on her end of the table, Chappy at her side. The smile on her face was wide as ever. Chappy, however, looked doubtful. Had she picked someone he didn't agree with? Or he was just worried about the teams in general. It's not everyday someone steals a time gear. There were high stakes in this mission.

"Topsy's and Zazz's team will be going to the Great Forest." Chappy froze. It wasn't quite the way he had expected her to say it. But, now that it was out there, everyone's jaw had already dropped, as well as my own. The only ones who didn't seem surprised were Topsy and Zazz. They bowed their heads in agreement.

Wait.

What?

Zyla and I had barely been here a day and they're already sending us out on dangerous missions? Sure, Zazz gave us quite the handicap, but he'd just be lugging us around like two suitcases full of rocks. They were joking, they had to be joking. Yet when I waited for them to shout, "HA! Surprise! You guys suck too much to go!" the realization that what she said was serious sunk in.

I was now wide awake. Wide awake, tired, and terrified.

"C-Coco, you must be joking?" A nearby pokemon laughed a nervous, robotic laugh. "Zazz, now I agree with you about him, but his team? They're new. They look like great pokemon and all but, Great Forest? I mean… Great Forest? Great Forest? That seems a little ridiculous." Zyla didn't mind that the porygon had pointed out the obvious, she looked straight up concerned that Coco and Chappy had picked her in the first place. As each and every set of eyes rested on her and me, I felt her fur warm in stagefright. I pressed up against her softly.

"They are more than capable, capable!" Coco assured with a wide smile. "And with Zazz leading them, they will be great, great!"

Now I was convinced that this wasn't a joke. Zyla, sensing it as well, pressed closer against me. Zazz and Topsy stood from their seats, bowing their heads. What was this? Were they saying their final goodbyes? Oh, great. The Great Forest was going to be a complete nightmare.

"It is an honor," Topsy said, her tail likewise bowing. Zazz tried to mimic the motion of her tail, but when his just shook, he stilled it.

"Thank you, guild master." He lifted his head. His purple eyes were nearly burning in determination. "We will bring back whatever we can."

The guild paused. I'm pretty sure this is the moment where everyone started applauding the chosen groups. But they wasn't going to happen. Coco had chosen two newbies to go out on a dangerous mission when there was an entire guild of capable pokemon sitting before her. It wasn't hate, just complete surprise. I forced myself not to avert my gaze from Coco. If anyone met my eyes, I knew it would be awkward. Zyla was following my example, trembling.

When everyone had finished their seemingly ceaseless staring, Coco stood. "Well, everyone!" She struck a pose. "Get to work! We have a busy day ahead of us! Let's go! Go, guild, go!" The first couple of seconds after she spoke, the pokemon before her didn't look willing to move. As soon as Topsy and Zazz turned to their teams, however, they all stood and left. None of them looked back at us as they left. It was a little disturbing, it felt like we were suddenly outcasts. Zazz and Topsy were completely numb to this. Even Dua, who had at first seemed surprised, was back to her always-calm state. Theo had an unusual look in his eyes that switched from hostility towards Zyla and I to confusion. Trust me, bud, I told myself, I'm just as shocked as you are.

Topsy, Dua, and Theo came over to our side to the table. Topsy looked determined as she spoke. "You two ready for your first real adventure?" First? Yeah, you keep telling yourself that. Seeing my name on a stone foretelling that I would save this backwards world was first. This'll make my second, and I hoped to arceus that it was going to be a bit milder.

But then again, what part of my life at this point was mild?

"We're ready, but…" Zyla was trying to put her thoughts into words. Luckily our good friend Theo had plenty to say, the majority exactly what needed to be said.

"Why do they get to come?!" His voice probably carried to the other room, but there was no sign of any pokemon coming back to watch, so they let him blow his top. "They're completely new! They've only gone on one mission! Zazz should just tag along with us! Why would the guild master choose them?!" It stung a bit, but I was getting used to Theo. He was the type you just ignore and more on.

"Coco talked to Zazz and I this morning," Topsy said in her calming voice. "She said that Zyla and Zakuro are plenty capable of handling themselves." Coco? Recommending Zyla and I? Oh Arceus, she thinks I'm a top notch pokemon because I saved Chappy. It was cool and all, but sending a us to do this… I wasn't quite sure what the wigglytuff on her mind. "And when has she ever been wrong about anything? Not once." Theo crossed his arms. He wanted to protest, but he just mumbled under his breath.

Charming.

"What do you think?" Zazz asked Zyla and I. Horrible, I told him mentally. Completely insane. Crazy. Bizarre. Suicidal. All-around a big no go. But you know, when you're asked by the guild master and have the support of the leader of your team, what can you say? None of what I had in mind, that was sure.

"It'll be great," Zyla said, half excited, half terrified. "But I'd like to stay close. If Zakuro and I get lose there, it might be the end." I agreed. None of that Scooby Doo let's-split-up-gang kind of crap. This was real life. Real life to pokemon.

"We never split up unless it is an emergency," Topsy assured. "If worse comes to worse, use your badge." Her eyes swept over Theo and Dua. The two of nodded once. "I suppose it is time to leave. Zazz and I know the way, so don't stray too far behind." The remainder of us nodded.

The guild was easy to leave. When it came to getting out of the town, that was a whole different story. Zazz had insisted on picking up items for the road. Topsy agreed and, long story short, Zyla, Dua, Theo and I were stuck sitting in the center of town waiting for them to figure out what to buy. This is worse than boys taking their shopaholic girlfriends to the mall. These two had only bought one oran berry and were in a heated debate about how much more to buy. Something told me this had happened before because Dua and Theo had brought little books to read.

Wonder where they got those, I found myself idly thinking. A pokemon print shop? For some reason, the image of that didn't fit well in my head. Ugh… how much longer were they going to take?

Someone bumped into me, hard. I was about to see who it was until I felt the bag on my left shoulder shift slightly. A tiny hand snuck in and out of it, taking with it a small amount of the currency they used in this world. My impulses took over. I grabbed the hand just as it was about to pocket the change. A surprised-looking pansear flinched at my glower.

"O-o-oh my…" he whispered. A reddish color that matched the crazy hairdo on his head blossomed on his cheeks. I glowered harder, daring him to talk. He started shivering in my grasp, suddenly desperate to get away. Dua and Theo, who had put down their items to catch the commotion, blinked in surprise. Even Zyla, who had been taking a light nap, lifted her head in my direction. Topsy and Zazz were too busy debating whether the price of a certain pecha berry was too low or high depending on a bruise on one of the sides of it. "I… I didn't mean-"

"If you didn't mean to," I interrupted in a menacingly low voice, "then you wouldn't have even tried in the first place." He flinched. It was like my words had dealt a physical blow on him. Good. I had this guy terrified. Now that he was under my control, he willingly dropped the coins he had taken into my palm. Without looking away, I placed the coins back in my bag. "What's your business sticking your hands in other people's pockets?"

"I… I um…" He dropped his gaze to the ground. "I'm hungry, so I thought if I tried… if I tried to get some cash..." Hungry? What, did he have enough food to buy himself something? He didn't seem like a very seasoned criminal, though. Anyone could tell that they were being robbed. There was no stealth and no thought process behind it. He had to have gotten his skills from a cereal box.

I was about to call him out for lying until his stomach growled, loudly. It lasted quite a while. It was like his body was already beginning to digest itself from the inside out. Ok, so this guy was hungry. He wasn't an experienced crook, either.

He was telling the truth.

I sighed out my nose. "Don't move." The pansear did as told. Now the little guy was looking nervous. I dug through my bag, sifting through the junk we had. Paperwork that showed proof of becoming a team, small pebbles that had it had caught during our last adventure, our badge…. There it was: the apple that had come with our starter kit. I held it out to him. He took it. At first, he was ready to take a bite out of it, but he stopped. The pansear scanned me. "No, I didn't poison it. I'm not too familiar with pokemon that keep poisoned apples in their bags to give to random people."

"You… Why?" He seemed more than surprised. What? Did I give him a brick of gold? Was there some sort of custom to giving pokemon apples on the street? I didn't think that was the case.

"You're hungry, right? No one should ever go hungry." I snorted. "Eat that and promise me you won't ever steal, or try to steal, again, alright?" Pansear looked down to the apple in his hands, to me, then back to the apple.

"Wow. Thank you, Ms. Shinx!" I opened my mouth to correct him, but he was already off, hopping away while taking massive bites out of the apple. Pokemon nearby who had been paying attention followed the primate with their eyes. It was unusual to see pokemon happy about being handed an apple, I guess. No skin off my bones. I didn't care what they thought.

"Zakuro, you're so nice!" Zyla nudged me. Oh, I nearly forgot that Pansear had already skipped off. No need to keep looking then. "Not many people give away free stuff. You're one of a kind!"

"I hope you don't mind that I gave him our apple," I replied quietly. Zyla laughed.

"Of course! If I had been in the same situation, I would've done the same! Don't worry about it!" She laughed again. She was genuinely happy. What had made her so bright and awake all of a sudden? Surely no one would get that happy over just giving away an apple.

…

Well… she and others had mentioned how much harder the people in the pokemon world were lately. Maybe what I just did… maybe it was completely unusual. Was it really a rare sight? Wow, this place really needed some help.

"You four ready?" Zazz asked, Topsy on his tail. "We finally got everything that we need."

"Yep!" Zyla hopped up to him. "We're ready for the road!"

Team Dream Was Assigned A Mission!

Zakuro And Zyla Are Nervous!

Pansear Used Thief!

Zakuro Is Immune!

Saving Game…

Game Saved!


	12. Virizion, Stop! Please!

Chapter 12

The six of us had been on the road for a while, and we had yet to see any change in the area around us. It was still a small forest with rocks and ponds thrown here and there. There didn't seem to be any sign that the Great Forest was coming any time soon. It was frustrating, because my paws were already sore and Zyla seemed to be just about the same. Urgh, how did pokemon check time in this world? Probably by the sun, which was primitive to me. Not to mention I had no idea how to tell. All I knew was when it was directly overhead, it was noon. Now that I thought about it, maybe this world was in a different solar system, with a different sun.

There was no real way to find out, was there? I sighed. Why was I suddenly the most confused pokemon in the world? Maybe it would all pay off, this adventure. Maybe it was just a matter of time before it all started to make sense, because right now, there was nothing but questions spinning around my head.

"How about some stories for the road?" Topsy offered. "Zakuro, you have any?" Sure, how about the clueless pokemon trainer from another world that gets sucked into this one with nothing besides a stone tablet that says she's going to tell the future? Wait, that one hadn't been finished yet. For all I know, it hasn't even started.

"I don't have any good stories." I wasn't lying. There was not a single story in my brain. They had all been dumped in the human world. That made me think, since I was no here, were there people back home that missed me? Maybe my pokemon? My family? It was useless to try and miss them, there was not a shred of a memory to who they were. Ugh. Talk about upsetting.

"Zyla, what about you?" Topsy smiled at the young fennekin.

"Oh, how about the legend behind the time gears?" Her tail fluffed up in excitement. "Ooh, I love legends!"

"You know a lot about them?" Zazz asked. She nodded, excited.

"I read all about them growing up. Before I was able to read, I used to talk to pokemon of all sorts to tell me the tales behind them. They're more than interesting!" Topsy's tail swished around in the air.

"Well, go on ahead. We'd love to hear." The group seemed to be up for it. All except Theo, who saw so much positive attention towards Zyla that he crossed his arms and mumbled to himself again. Dua blinked at Zyla, a spark of interest in his eyes.

"Alright. Well it was a long time ago, like a really long time ago. There were these three big pokemon named Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina." Hm. So they did have those pokemon in this world. That's moderately surprising. "The three of them lived in this tiny, tiny void and, being forced to have to share it, the three of them began to fight.

"These pokemon were fierce. They fought every day and every night. Regardless of how powerful they were, all three were evenly matched. For eons, the universe we're all too familiar with was just an empty rip in space filled with ceaseless battle. But that all changed when the three of them woke Arceus, a pokemon hidden in the void.

"'Are you three idiots?' the god pokemon would ask. 'I created you to create, not destroy. But look at you! You can't solve anything!' The three pokemon ceased battling to listen. Since Arceus had been the one who created them, they felt obligated to listen. After a while of talking it out, the god pokemon decided it was time to expand the void into the universe you know today. He created several legendary pokemon to get the world started. Groudon created the land, Kyogre the sea, and Rayquaza the sky. Regigigas shaped the continents by dragging them across the world. Cresselia and Darkrai granted the pokemon dreams. Heatran created volcanoes. Shaymin brought life to the plants, and Mew created pokemon to her liking. The world was finally complete by Arceus' doing, but there was still chaos.

"Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina still did not get along. Seeing that they all possessed the power to destroy his masterpiece, he gave them each a share of this world, shares that would separate them from battling. Palkia was given the power to distort space, and he was given a kingdom in a void to watch the world from afar. Dialga was promised the ability to turn time and was given likewise. The most ill-tempered of them all, Giratina, wanted more than a throne to watch the planet. He wanted to rule everything and everyone. Seeing that he was a threat, Arceus banished him to the distortion world, where he could not touch this planet, let alone see it.

"Though Dialga and Palkia were always watching this world, they wanted to leave their mark to let all the pokemon know they were there. To do so, they scattered out gears, half of them from Dialga, or time gears, and the other half from Palkia, or space gears. The two of them are equally important, but space gears are much harder to find, given that they vanish and appear in different places every time someone finds it."

Hm. That's just a little bit different from the human world. Sure, the whole creation story matches up with Zyla's, but the time gears and space gears is completely new. I wonder why they need those here. Maybe it has something to do with the lack of humans. There wasn't much of a connection to that, though….

"So seeing a space gear is like winning the lottery," Zazz guessed. "I'd personally like to see one of those. But, then again, what we're going to see at the great forest might be just as cool." Cool, huh? I'm just hoping we don't get killed out here. Now that all the regular pokemon have fled, I'm sure that the Great Forest is going to be overrun by stronger, more dangerous foes.

It suddenly got darker. The six of us slowed and looked around. No, it wasn't nighttime. We had just stepped into a particularly dark section of the woods. Behind us, there was a wall of light that made us feel like a cloud had drifted across the sun. Yet the sun was still shining bright above us. There was no obstruction, it had just decided to dim dramatically.

I took a step forward and felt something crumble beneath me as put my weight on it. The same thing happened to the others, so the whole group came to a halt. We all looked under our feet. The grass… the grass had turned so brittle it was like stepping on thin glass. Instead of just breaking, however, it turned to dust. In fact, wherever we stepped, the grass would give way and we would leave behind dirt footprints, for the ground beneath the grass was barren.

The air around us was still and the silence was deafening. We could all hear us breathing and the tiny pitter patter of our hearts as we began to realize that dead ahead was a wide entrance to the Great Forest. The tall trees were a mixture of greys and black, the vines hanging off the side broken like pretzel sticks.. The flowers on them were withered and petalless. Even the sky, which had been the clearest of blues, was suddenly dark and dreary, like night had fallen early. A few feet away from me, a leaf that had been wettened was still shedding excess water, but the water hung suspended in mid air. It was as if the forest itself had gone into a painful hibernation, and we all knew what that hibernation was.

"Great Forest…" Zyla whispered. "It's… it's horrible." Something told me she had been expecting something better. I hated to admit it, but I had come here in hopes of something the same. The stories were creepy enough. But this… this was just unsettling. It felt like my fur was being brushed the wrong way, and there wasn't even any wind to do that.

"It's quite the sight," Zazz agreed. "But we're not here to sightsee. Let's get inside and take a look at where the time gear was stolen." A part of me wanted to turn around and run, but a better part of me followed them into the dark, depressing woods. These five needed me. It'd be cowardly to turn back now.

As we delved deeper in the woods, we found ourselves huddling closer and closer together. They had really meant it when they said that they didn't split up. There was no messing around; we weren't going to get separated. But then again, what was there to pull us apart? There were no pokemon. There were no forks in the room. Just a wide, continuous path that lead straight forward. It looked like quite a few pokemon had ran this way, too, for the grass was nonexistent. It must've been raining when time froze, too, because droplets of water similar to the leaf at the entrance were hanging in the air.

As we got closer to the time gear, I began to notice that things were getting darker. The sun was now hidden by the trees, though specks of it could be seen here or there through tiny gaps in the leaves. The leaves were also beginning to look shriveled and crumpled up the further we ventured. Several were half dusted. Walking past them slightly reduced them to a pile of ash. Now the trail was widening; a great herd of pokemon had run through here. We were getting close.

"Say, Zyla," Zazz said, startling everyone. Arceus, Zazz! The silence was already scary enough. Don't give me a heart attack! "Did that lore ever tell about what happens when a time gear is removed? Or anything like it?" Zyla paused to think.

"Well," she started softly. "I guess that time stopping would be an obvious effect. But besides that, no. No one has ever tried to take them before."

"I figured."

Up ahead through the vines was a clearing. The six of us slowly passed through, careful not to touch too many leaves. As much as the place was sure to disappear soon, we didn't want to help speed up that process. It had once been such a beautiful forest, maybe there was a way to bring it back?

"Stop," Zazz said. The five of us came to a sudden halt. Straight ahead and carved into a stone wall was the outline of something that resembled a cog. Around it were etchings in another language, definitely something I hadn't seen before in the human world, let alone this world. The stone wall was beginning to crumble; parts of it were already dusting away. Was this where the time gear was set? "Whoever you are, show yourself."

I nearly had a heart attack when a pokemon stepped out from behind the stone. Her eyes darted back and forth, up and down, and all around the forest with a crazed gleam in them. Her nose was running all the way down her neck and the drool dripping off her teeth were pooling on the ground. Her legs were trembling in excitement. Her grassy fur, once so soft, was covered in dirt and sweat. She smiled a demented grin, licking her lips with a heavy, nearly limp tongue.

"Hello-o-o…" she greeted, eyes focusing on us but an instant before darting about again. "You must be new here. Forest is closed." She laughed loudly, as if it were a joke. Then, she went still again. "Closed. Such a weird thing to call a place like this. But if you'd like, you can stay. I don't mind company, though company usually minds me." She cackled, throwing her head from side to side.

"V… Virizion?" Topsy stepped forward. "Are you… are you ok?"

"Never better, never better, life is better." She cackled again, throwing her head to the side, where her tongue lolled out of the corner of her mouth. All but Topsy stepped away. Ok, freakshow here. Not only did I feel a sense of wanting to run away with a tail between my legs, but there was something else. The pokemon's eyes weren't working properly. It was like she wasn't actually seeing what was around her.

She was dreaming.

"Take a deep breath," Topsy instructed. "You're sick. Let's take you back to the guild where we can help you." Virizion laughed absurdly loud. If there were any pokemon left in the forest, they had definitely heard her. Even a few nearby leaves, just having heard the shrill cry, dusted.

"You think going to the guild would make this better," the grass legendary giggled. "But, in all reality, it's so good… it feels good this way. I don't need to guard that gear. I'm free. Free-e-e-e! Eee he he he he!"

Guard the gear? You mean, even though no one had stolen it, they had guards on them? How could a pokemon get the time gear when a legendary like Virizion had been watching it. A better question was, now that it was gone, had Virizion lost it? Well, she had lost her mind, but why? It wasn't like she was connected to the time gear, right? Or maybe…

Maybe she was connected to this forest instead.

Virizion lashed out at Topsy with a sacred sword attack. All six of us scattered a different direction as the pokemon swung again, this time to try and behead us all in one fell swoop. Seeing that she was outnumbered, Virizion turned to Topsy and licked her lips.

"It's been so long… so long since you visited. One would think you had gone and died." The look on Topsy's face turned pained. She knew this pokemon? I wasn't going to wonder how at the moment. It seemed we were in for a bad battle. Virizion was about to say something more to the psychic eeveelution, but her eyes spotted me. A cold chill ran up and down my spine when she turned her head ever so slowly in my direction. I found myself glued to the ground by fear. "Oh… oh my… what a brilliant aura you have." Now all the pokemon were turning towards me. What? Was I glowing? It sure didn't look like it. "I can see it… a purple aura: the aura of an extremely rare specimen." She grinned wide and drool dripped from both corners of her mouth. "A human."

Topsy, Theo, and Dua were suddenly even more surprised about that than seeing Virizion completely lose it. Oh well, no time for their gawking. I needed to figure out a way to defeat this pokemon. The others would help, too, or at least Zyla and Zazz would. Now that my cover had been blown, there wasn't a guarantee that the other three would be willing to help.

Virizion charged at me again, he sacred sword drawing up such a strong wind that the forest behind where I once stood was nearly swept away entirely. I landed next to Theo, who looked at me, his eyes asking the obvious question.

"What? Never seen a human in a pokemon's skin?"

"Well… no." Virizion dove again. Theo and I split up to different sides of the battlefield. "What's it like to be a human?" he asked from the other side of the clearing. I blinked at him. Was now really a good time to ask? Topsy seemed to think the same thing because she jabbed him with a paw. Theo looked hurt for but a second. Dua, who stood next to him, blinked at Topsy.

"It's news to me, too," she said, reading his thoughts. "But we don't have time to talk it out. Subdue Virizion, then discuss it." Dua bowed her head. Then, faster than a bolt of lightning, the umbreon raced forward and headbutt the side of the crazed legendary. She spot out a mouthful of spittle in surprise. Her body went rolling across the clearing to Zazz and Zyla, who rolled out of the way before she clashed into more leaves and trees.

The air became thick with the dust as the tops of the trees came tumbling down. Now it was almost completely dark, not to mention hard to breathe. The dust tasted like rust and stuck to the inside of my mouth, layering it. I tried to lick it off but it would take too long to do it here, especially when I had no choice but to breathe it in. Now the battlefield was shrouded in plumes of grey powder. How was I going to see where she was coming from?

"What is it that compels you to save this world?" Virizion's voice came from all around me. Was she using double team? How could I find her through all of this? I tried zapping in a random direction, but it didn't clear the air. I wasn't a flying type pokemon, what use was my electricity now? "Is it the fact that you have no choice? That you were brought here against your will?" I swiveled around. Don't panic, don't panic. She's just playing around. She wouldn't try to actually kill me, right?

Right?

The dirt behind me shifted and I rolled out of the way just in time to watch as the sacred sword zoomed past. It planted itself at an angle in the dirt, deep enough that dislodging it might take a bit of muscle.

Ok, she was trying to kill me.

"Zakuro!" Zyla called. "Zakuro, where are you?"

"Don't come close!" I called back. "I'm fine! I can take her!" What a fat liar I was. There was no winning against this psycho. The best way to go was start digging my own grave.

"You're not fighting alone!" Zazz shouted. "We're a team now! You're not taking her on alone!" Right. I had a team now. But involving pokemon like Zyla and Zazz into this kind of battle seemed wrong. I was the one Virizion wanted. What if one of them got hurt trying to defend me from this half-asleep maniac?

…

Half asleep? That's it!

"Topsy!" I called.

"Yeah?" she shouted back from the right.

"I need you to hold Virizion in place! Just for a second! But do it close to me so I know where so is!" There was pause.

"Can I trust a human?" Her voice sounded weary.

"You don't have to trust a human," I called. The dust started shifting to my left. "Just trust me!" Virizion jumped from the side, laughing maniacally as she prepared her fangs to sink into my flesh. Just when I thought that all hope was lost, her body was suddenly coated in a layer of purple power. Topsy trusted me, and that wasn't going to go to waste.

I jumped forward, where the legendary hung mid air, and reached out my paw. Her eyes turned wild as I neared, but there was nothing she could do to escape. The instant my paw touched her sweaty, greasy fur, the two of our bodies became heavy. We both dropped like sacks of flesh to the dirt. The air stilled and the dust began to settle. When the five other pokemon heard the thuds, they approached us.

Virizion and I had fainted, my paw on hers.

Virizion Used Sacred Sword!

The Move Missed!

Zakuro Used Dream Hop!

Zakuro Is Getting All Fired Up!

Saving Game…

Game Saved!


	13. Dream Hoppers!

Chapter 13

I opened my eyes. For a few seconds, I expected to be back with the others, holding Virizion's paw right before she lashed out at me and ended my life. The next couple of seconds, I felt like I had already been killed, for the place I opened my eyes to was amazing.

It was a forest, a forest with trees that skimmed the clouds and reflected the sunlight. The leaves were the size of small cars and the vines were studded with flowers. Each flower was a different color, some had two colors, others had a whole rainbow of different petals. The grass was soft beneath my feet and the air was cool. A gentle breeze wafted through the clearing, bringing with it the scent of fresh berries and spring water. Where I stood was the clearing where Virizion and I had battled, but she was nowhere in sight. Instead, the stone that stood in the center took her place.

The time gear in it was gorgeous. It glowed a bright turquoise, pulsing in a soft rhythm. It had a design on it that gave it the look of a snowflake, but as I drew near, the soft design seemed to morph into something more menacing. The snowflake pattern etched on it grew sharp, blade-like points. It looked as if I had startled it, so I stepped back slowly. The soft, delicate pattern returned.

"I know you're there." The voice startled me. I tripped over my own feet to get to the edge of the clearing, where I cowered behind a tree. "Come out. I'm not going to hurt you." Was that… Virizion's voice?

I was about to reveal myself when a different pokemon lurched forward out of the trees. Virizion stepped out from behind the stone and tried to counter the foe when she was knocked aside. In that split second she was down, the blur of a pokemon grabbed the time gear and pulled it from the stone. Without a second though, it disappeared into the underbrush.

The forest trembled. Virizion looked to the sky, a panicked expression on her face. That was my cue. I jumped from the bushes and landed in front of her. She leapt backwards, surprised. Wow, she looked so much better. Her fur was groomed, her tongue was in her mouth, and her eyes, oh her darling eyes weren't milky white but a deep shade of blue.

"We have to get out of here," I started. "Follow me, I can get you to safety." She blinked at me.

"Your aura," she whispered. "You're human." The forest lurched again. I didn't have time to talk to her. I grabbed her front paw and started tugging her. She didn't protest. She simply took it back and started following me as I started racing out of the forest, trying not to look back as the forest lurched again, this time nearly taking the ground from beneath my paws. The sounds of alarmed pokemon sounded behind me. The two of us turned back.

Oh Arceus. There was a wall of darkness right behind us, racing through the forest at breakneck speed. As I watched, it began to envelope trees and plants alike, stilling them in place. There was no way I could outrun something that quick. We were going to-

Virizion picked my up me the scruff and zoomed out of the way of danger like a bat outta hell. She was going so fast that my body was plastered to her chest as she galloped forward, not once taking a look back. I, however, couldn't resist a peak.

The Great Forest was falling to the darkness. It had just begun to rain when the time gear had been stolen, but now the rain could no longer fall. As the grey swept over the once beautiful area, the raindrops slowed and stilled. The sounds of startled pokemon was fewer now. Please tell me they hadn't been frozen stiff as well?

We had just left the forest when Virizion skidded to a stop and turned around. The entrance to the forest darkened to grey. She backed up a bit until she was just barely out of reach of the darkness. That's when the wind stopped, the pokemon quieted, and the grip of frozen time settled over the once beautiful and brilliant land.

The grass pokemon dropped me to the dirt, where I messily landed on all fours. She stepped forward, eyes desperate.

"No…" she whispered. "My forest… my beautiful, gorgeous forest…" I had nothing to say that would coax her. The pokemon that had taken the time gear had not only destroyed a once bountiful land, but had also gotten away unscarred. I found myself looking just as pained as her. Why would anyone do this? Why would they put the lives of so many pokemon in danger for the sake of something like a time gear? Wasn't it already safe in place? What use was it besides here?

I couldn't think of one good thing that could come out of destroying something as beautiful as the Great Forest.

"You," Virizion's hard gaze was suddenly on me. Having been nearly killed by her before, I froze. She approached me on heavy paws, eyes blazing. "You must have an idea of who did this." I held up my paws and shook my head, suddenly unable to speak. The legendary lowered her eyes at me, scanning my figure to detect any trace of lies. When she found none, she leaned to my height and got as close to my face as possible, making me really uncomfortable. "What is your name, human?" I swallowed.

"Z-Zakuro, ma'am."

"My name is Veda," she corrected. "What business do you have here?"

"I, uh, I battled you in the real world." She went silent. "Um, you see, you're dreaming right now. I'm guessing it's a flashback because in current time the forest has been still for a while-"

"You're here to save me from my nightmare," she stated.

"Y-yeah." She paused. Slowly, she straightened and turned back to the forest. The look of sadness in her eyes was contagious. I tried thinking of things to say, but there was nothing. I mean, what do you tell someone who lost their home because they hadn't quite guarded a magical item well enough? Yeah, there's no words out there you could put together to heal that wound.

"So you're saying this is a dream, a flashback, correct?" Virizion sounded somber.

"Yeah," I replied softly.

"Then you have saved me from my nightmare." She paused. "Thank you, Zakuro." Before I could think of a reply, she delicately picked a paw off the ground and grazed my side. A familiar sickening lurch to my gut hit me like a truck. I dropped to the ground on my side. Virizion did the same.

"Zakuro!" a shrill voice called. I felt two paws pressing painfully against my ribs, shaking me back and forth. "Zakuro, please wake up! Zakuro!" Zyla's paws were beginning to really hurt my ribs. I tried to tell her that I was ok, but all that came out was a painful moan. She seemed to get the message, though Zazz didn't quite understand that I was still too tired to stand up yet. When he picked me up by the scruff and tried to put me on my feet, I crumpled to the dirt, stirring up a bit of dust. I sneezed and pawed at my nose. That tickled way too much.

"She's alright," I heard Zazz breathe, relieved. "They're both going to be alright."

I opened my eyes slowly. My vision was doubled and my stomach was twisting around itself, but the good news was that I was able to see Veda get to her feet. She looked dazed, just as dazed as me. I didn't want to look like the weaker one so I forced myself to my feet. I almost collapsed again if it wasn't for Zyla, who pressed against my side. Oh how I loved the warmth of her fur. Now I wasn't focusing on my stomach but the heat that soothed me.

"I was right to trust you." Topsy walked in front of me. "I thought you were going to attack her. Please understand my hesitation, I'm not too familiar with humans." I blinked at her. Good, my vision was clear. I balanced myself away from Zyla, who kept by my side in case there was a need for her.

"Don't worry about it," I said, my voice hoarse. "Most humans are jerks who would do anything to stay alive." Topsy smiled faintly. She thought that was a joke. Oh well, innocence never killed anyone, now did it? Ugh, just thinking up sarcastic comments made me feel sick.

"You said her name was Zakuro." Veda approached, leaning down to my height once again. "She does not look like much. If I didn't know better, I'd think she was just a stray from Thunder Peak. But her aura tells otherwise."

"What aura?" Zyla asked, scanning me quickly. "I don't see anything." Veda smiled.

"It's a gift some of us legendaries have," she explained. "Certain colors on pokemon mean different things. Red mean evil, blue means neutral, and green means good. There's rare colors like yellow, which means powerful, and pink, which means intelligent. Purple, however, means human."

"Who told you that?" I asked. "I thought humans didn't exist in this world."

"They don't," she explained. "But when you get as good as reading auras as I do, you notice these things right away." She looked between all six of us. "Something tells me that I was battling you all before this moment."

"Yeah," Topsy said. "You had gone crazy and started attacking all of us, Zakuro in particular." Virizion paused.

"Hm. Well, I don't remember leaving my post when the time gear was stolen." She looked to me. "But someone has replaced my crazy thoughts with a memory much sweeter." I smiled softly. No problem. Next time, try not to kill me in the process. This shinx can take only so much before freaking out. "It is interesting, however. It appears your friend has the ability to Dream Hop."

"Dream Hop?" Zazz echoed. "What? I thought you two had just bashed heads and knocked each other out." Zyla nodded in agreement. The others exchanged glances.

"Yes, I'm sure it was Dream Hopping that young Zakuro performed right here." She leaned forward and poked my chest with her paw. I braced myself to be sucked back into her memory, to be sickened by the sudden change in dimensions, but nothing happened. She poked me again, this time keeping her paw on my fur longer. Still, nothing happened. "Just as I thought. Once a pokemon had been freed of their nightmares, Zakuro is unable to further help them."

"You were trapped in a nightmare, then," Topsy guessed. Veda nodded.

"When the time gear had been stolen, I hadn't thought to leave the forest to save myself. Instead I had been frozen inside with it. You might think that pokemon become frozen in time when such a thing happens around them, but it appears that instead the pokemon is trapped in a ceaseless nightmare. I have only heard of this in legends."

"Legends?" Zazz asked. "So people have stole time gears before?" Veda nodded once.

"A very long time ago, perhaps when the world was first created. Pokemon were primitive back then, and they would do whatever necessary to get by. Some thought that time gears would give them power, so when they removed them, they and everyone nearby were trapped in nightmares. To counter this, Dialga granted a select few pokemon with the ability to free them. These pokemon were known as the Dream Hoppers." She paused. "It is unusual for a human to inherit the trait."

"I think it's weird in general that a human has taken on the body of a shinx," I said aloud. "Anything's possible, I guess." Anything possible, good or bad, happens to me more like it. Dream Hopping? That didn't happen back in my world. This place was turning out to be more different than I originally thought.

"I suppose."

"Well, do you know anything about why Zakuro is here?" Zyla asked. Veda paused. Oh, great. Don't tell me she had no idea either. That's the last thing we needed, a dead end. "I mean, you knew about Dream Hopping. Do you know anyone else who can do it? Or maybe someone who knows more about it?" Veda closed her eyes, thinking.

"There are two I know of." Oh, thank Arceus. It wasn't a dead end. "Their names are Cresselia and Darkrai." Well, that proves it: my luck was terrible. Just when I thought we could saunter back into town and ask a normal, everyday pokemon about what all this meant Virizion throws their names at me. Legendaries again? Ugh. What are the chances they're going to want to talk to us, a bunch of tiny pokemon?

"The legendaries?" Theo questioned. It had been the first time he had talked in a while, so everyone was a bit surprised. "Not just any: two of the hardest ones to find. You expect us to find them? There's no telling where they're at now." Even better news.

"Cresselia is hard to find," Veda corrected. "Darkrai, not so much." She held out her paw. Understanding the gesture, Topsy pulled out her map and handed it to her. The legendary placed the map on the ground and started scanning it. It was a few moments later she pointed to the bottom right of the map. The guild was around that area, maybe a bit more north than west, but still, the place she pointed to was fairly nearby. Yet, I didn't like the look of that part of the map. All it showed was a big black square. It was like the map makers had no idea what to put there. "There, in Shadow Depths."

"That's where Darkrai is?" Theo trembled. "I'm glad you know where to find him and all, but don't you think it's a bit dangerous to travel there?" Excuse me. Were you invited to this, sir? "I mean, the dark types aren't too nice. They wouldn't appreciate anyone coming near them except Zazz, and even then he's been in the guild so long they won't be too fond of him." So Zazz was from the Shadow Depths. Something to think about.

"We can't risk crossing it this season," Topsy said. "It'd be far too dark. We'll have to wait a while, maybe a week before we can even consider leaving." So the map maker wasn't just lazy when he put a black square there. That's what the place actually looks like. "In the meantime, we can try and search for the pokemon that stole the time gear."

"I wish I could help you," Veda said, "but the pokemon was too quick to identify. But…" She pondered her next words. "Their aura was green." Green? That mean good, right? That couldn't be right. Anyone who took a time gear was evil. They were looking for power or seeking destruction. She must've just seen the color of their skin. Maybe they were a grass type. That sounded more logical. No one would bother pulling aside a grass type in a forest.

"We'll keep on the lookout," Topsy promised. "Thank you, Veda." The grass pokemon smiled.

"It was good to see you, old friend. Travel safely. You never know what a pokemon holding a time gear might do if he finds out that you're on his tail."

Zakuro Used Dream Hop!

Veda Was Revived!

Saving Game…

Game Saved!


	14. Happy Independence Day From Mew Ike!

"Ugh!" Zazz whined. "Zyla, it's late. Shouldn't we be in bed?" The excited fenneken couldn't help but prance around him in circles. She was excited. She wouldn't tell us why yet, but it has to be something big.

It was probably midnight. Zazz and I had been asleep, as well as half the guild, when she woke us up. Regardless, the whole half that had been awake was following us now. They didn't look near as tired as our dark type companion. I know dark types needed their sleep, so Zyla must have some reason for forcing him out here.

"Does she know where it is this year?" To pay had pulled up beside me with my noticing.

"Hm? Where what is?" I asked. Theo sighed.

"I knew these three had no idea." He motioned to turn backwards, but no one followed him. "C'mon! I wanna go back to sleep!"

"The Dedenne Squad," Dua said simply. She didn't explain, so Topsy continued for her.

"The Dedenne Squad is a group of dedenne and several electric Pokemon who come around every Fourth of July to perform."

Fourth of July? Here? In Paradise? I thought that this was a pokemon only world. What would they have to celebrate here? Confusion must've shown on my face because Topsy continued to explain.

"Here in Paradise, we celebrate the end of all uneasiness between each of the continents."

"Continents?" I whispered.

"Yeah," Theo answered. "In this world, there's six continents, each with three different types of pokemon ruling them. These six continents used to never get along until about three hundred years ago, where each legendary, the rulers of each continent, signed a truce. This ended all wars. So we called it the Fourth of July because it sounds a lot like "Come fourth and jolly!"

"That's not why they called it that!" Topsy corrected. "It's in some ancient language. Back in those days, all the Pokemon said either 'fourth', 'of', or 'July', so they combined them to show their union."

"Myth," Zazz grumbled. "It's from an ancient language. It has no understood meaning."

Oh my Arceus. This world was overlapping a little too much.

"We're almost there!" Zyla called to the group behind her. "Just over this hill!" Without waiting for anyone to follow, she darted up a grassy hill. I darted forward to catch up, as did Zazz with heavy paws. Right when we were at the top, a warm wind blew my fur in my eyes. I flipped it out of the way while Zazz fixed the fluff on his head.

Oh. My. Arceus.

There was an entire ring of pokemon below us, and I'm that ring was a perfectly harmonized group of electric types. They were dancing in a circle, their bodies taking on flashy, sparkly forms as they moved from spot to spot, twirling about elegantly. As they moved, more and more began to join in, appearing from their hidden spots in the darkness. As they increased in numbers, the pokemon of the guild started racing down the hill to join the small ring of people that had already gather. Zyla took a seat where she stood and Zazz gratefully joined her.

"I knew they'd be here this year," she said excitedly.

"How'd you know?" I asked. "Don't they come here every year?" Zazz shook his head, yawning.

"Nope," he said. "This group travels all around the continent. No one knows where they'll be each year. And when they're nearby, travelers have to find them by exploring." He narrowed his eyes at Zyla. "How'd you know?"

"I did some research," she said. Oh, yeah. I had forgotten that legend and myths and all the book reading was her thing. Wow, what a great hobby to have. "It's a good thing we're here. The show just started."

I watched the electric types as they danced around. A few were chanting a low, sad song. As it went along, the changing sped up and the lights started flickering. The song became hopeful, then cheery, then energetic. As it went along, the group matches their moves to the music. I couldn't see what Pokemon they were because each one was nothing but a ball of light. When they passed each other closely, I made out a few dedenne (obviously), some emolga, elekids, voltorb, and a minun. There were more, but they were masked by their shadows.

The pokemon in the crowd were silent as they watched the show. No wonder it was so hard to find; the whole performance was completely mute. Even as everyone watched, all that could be heard was the faint, faint breathing of the crowd.

"Hey, Zakuro." Zyla had whispered, but I still flinched.

"O-oh. Yeah?" It was hard to see in the darkness, but I could faintly see her smile. It wasn't her usual smile. It was different.

"Promise you'll stay here forever?" Her words didn't process until shortly after she had said them. Me? A pokemon forever? Was that even possible? Surely as soon as I filled the prophecy, I'd have to go back. But maybe I had a choice. Maybe I could stay. I didn't remember anything about Earth, and maybe they didn't remember me. But, a new life here with Zyla? That'd…

That'd be nice.

"I promise," I said with a soft smile. "Forever." She beamed.

"Thanks, Zakuro." She looked to Zazz to see his reaction, but the pokemon hadn't been paying attention. He was absorbed in the bright light, the beautiful display, and the gorgeous pokemon who continued to dance. In a way, that was alright. Because he wasn't as close to the reason I wanted to stay as Zyla was. It wasn't bad to stay because it's where I felt happiest, right?

I had a choice, didn't I?

Dedenne Used Dazzle!

The Guild Is Super Affected!

Zakuro Is Becoming Attached!

Saving Game…

Game Saved!


	15. The New Team Stinks!

Chapter 15

"Human, huh?" Theo stepped in front of me and stuck his beak in my face. Though we had been going at a brisk pace, he was slowly me down with his backwards waddle. "You don't look like a human." No shit. You expect me to walk on two legs and wear a giant name tag that said 'Zakuro: Human In Disguise' in big letters? No, that wasn't it. Besides, most of this world was completely unaware of what humans exactly like. There's no pictures anywhere.

Well… I did have that coin Skitters gave me. But that was different. He got that from the human world itself from some legendary pokemon. That didn't count.

"What did you look like?" Dua asked, curious. Theo spun back around the right way and pulled up besides the umbreon. He looked just as interested.

"Your guess is as good as mine," I mumbled. "I can't remember anything. According to Rubye, I had purple hair. That's all I got." Umbreon and Theo exchanged glances, disappointed. Topsy shook her head at them. What? Did she think I was offended by it? Upset? It was unsettling, but I didn't care. Not being able to remember anything made the transition from human to pokemon much smoother. "But I had the usual stuff: two arms, two legs, all that jazz."

The sun was starting to fall back down in the sky. How long had we been out? Surely it was past noon now. Shoot, I'd better ask Zyla to teach me how to tell time or something. It was annoying always being kept in the dark about this kind of stuff. Luckily the road back home was nothing but a thin forest and soft grass. We didn't need to hurry our way out either, they didn't serve lunch at the guild. We could take our sweet time.

"So what are you doing here?" Topsy asked, pulling up beside me. "Are you on a mission? Are you cursed? Were you banished?" Ugh, if only I knew. Too many people asked me this. Now I wanted to know even sooner. "Don't worry, you'll learn soon enough." I paused. Had she read my- oh. Yeah, Topsy was a psychic type. My thoughts weren't completely private.

"Hey," Zyla said. "There's something up ahead." All our gazes looked back towards the path. Sure enough, there was something there. It looked like a group of pokemon arranged in a circle. We were too far away to tell what kind of pokemon they were, but we could hear one of them crying loudly. One of them was in pain.

"C'mon," I instructed the others, dashing forward. Zazz seemed surprised. That was probably because I had suddenly issued an order. Despite the reversed roles, he took off after me, Zyla on his tail. Theo and Dua waited for instructions from Topsy, but she had already taken on. The two panicked and ran at full speed in an attempt to catch up.

As I approached the pokemon, it became clear that only one was crying. The other three, circled around the helpless pokemon, were snickering and smiling. There was a good chance I would've pounced on the largest of the bullies, but I was distracted. The once clean air turned rancid. The smell of rotten eggs and decaying flesh hit me like a truck. I slowed to a stop a few feet away from the group, nearly gagging. Arceus, that was awful. Now I knew why the pokemon was crying. It stunk!

There was an obvious answer to what was causing it: a skuntank. The poison pokemon was focusing the majority of his rancid stink on the panpour in the center of the circle. The poor water type was face-first in the dirt, squealing painfully. They probably weren't letting her run away from the looks of it. I didn't blame her. My eyes were watering. I could nearly taste the smell on my teeth.

"Hm?" The skuntank turned to me. He was unaffected by it. No duh, Zakuro. Pokemon were hardly affected by their own moves. Yet the koffing and zubat that kept panpour stuck in the circle were completely immune to it. Their snickering had only come to an end when I approached.

"'Ey boss, what's dis?" the zubat asked. "A shinx? Nev'r seen one of d'ose befer…" Her ears twitched. Now, I was clueless to how zubats could see, but I was jealous of the lack of nose. Maybe that was how she managed it. When Zyla and Zazz appeared at my side, they seemed to be just as jealous.

"Looks like they're part of an adventure team," Koffing spoke. He was probably used to his own fumes, so skuntanks didn't affect him either. "Looks like a newbie team, too. Covered in scratches and such."

Excuse me. I didn't know that noob adventure teams took on crazed legendaries in the middle of dead forests. I also didn't know that noob teams contained human to pokemon transformers. I was pretty damn important, mind you.

"What are you doing?" Zyla asked, a paw over her snout. She tried to look intimidating, but with her eyes watering, she looked like a kid that had been bopped in the nose. "Why is that pokemon in the dirt?"

"She wouldn't give us none o' her moneh." Well, now that she came right out with it, I was beginning to wonder if these guys were truly criminals or just slow-minded fools. "So we stank her outta her mind."

"We can tell," Zazz said. He wasn't covering his nose, but I could still tell he was affected by it. "We're going to need to stop."

"Or what?" Koffing asked. "You guys aren't the cops. You're just an adventure team." Skuntanks face lit up. He had an idea. And from the looks of it, it wasn't a good one.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he said, stopping before Koffing could say more. "We'll stop the fightin' and what not. But hey, you guys are part of an adventure team, right? My friends and I have been wanting to join one for a while." Zubat tilted her head.

"We have?" She then took a tail to the face as Skuntank whapped her and brought her down to the dirt. "Oh, ya, we have. Nearly forgot through all da mayhem…" These guys lied terribly. Zazz noticed and raised an eyebrow.

"We wouldn't mind joining your guild," Skuntank added. "Stella and Kong have been meaning to for a while, but we didn't quite know where to go." Didn't know where to go my tail. The guild was in the middle of town nearby. I wanted to tell Zazz that these guys were full of crap, but he already knew. For some reason, however, he went along with it.

"Alright, if you're sure, we can show you where the guild is."

"Pff," I retorted, walking past him and up to the panpour. Zazz was ignoring my comment, but Zyla couldn't help but stifle a chuckle. I bit the water pokemon gently by the scruff and pulled her away until we were out of the stinks' radius. As soon as she felt it was okay to breathe, we both took a big intake of air. Behind us, Zazz was explaining what to do when they got to the guild. Panpour blinked at me.

"He's… letting them in." Her voice was still thick from being forced to breathe in the foul stench. "Is he crazy? Those guys are terrible, mean, and ugly." She gets it. Zazz doesn't, but she does. "Their little posse is notorious for stealing things, especially. They're wanted, but every time they get arrested, they never tell everyone where their hidden stash of rare items is." What? I looked back over my shoulder. Those three? Notorious burglars? No wonder Zazz was letting them in.

They might've stolen the time gear.

Zakuro Found A Culprit!

Zazz Is Playing Along!

Saving Game…

Game Saved!


	16. The Lake Of Enraged Pokemon!

Chapter 16

"It's… cute." Stella didn't seem so interested in the guild. After Panpour had left and our group had made it back to the guild, the three rogues had stopped giggling amongst themselves and instead spoke loud enough for the rest to hear. Thank Arceus for that, their chuckling and poorly-muffled laughing was annoying. What was so funny anyways? I hated to admit it, but I hated being left out of things like that, even if it was with a trio of numbskulls. "I expected it to look more, you know, powerful."

"Power isn't what we specialize in," Topsy said. "The guild here works to make peace and help others. We don't try and be the strongest or anything of the sort." Wow, she hadn't spoken in a while. She probably was with Zazz from the start of the whole taking-in-the-possible-thieves plan, but why she hadn't spoken yet was beyond me. Maybe she was trying to piece out what they were giggling about like I was. Then again, I didn't speak because whatever I'd say would start a fight. Maybe that's what kind of human Zakuro was. An easily annoyed, sassy, all-around punk teenager. I smiled. Hey, that wasn't that bad.

"Whatchu smilin' bout?" Kong asked leaning in close to me. Gag, his fumes were even worse than Skuntank's. How is that possible? It was so wretched I didn't even try to hide that I was disgusted. "You smilin' at us, pretty girl?"

"No," I coughed. If there was anything that made me grin towards them, it was the thought that they'd leave and I'd never have to deal with them again. "Just thinking to myself."

Kong looked ready to probe further, but Topsy interrupted. "Let's give them a tour, shall we?" She looked to Zazz. She must've explained to report to Coco, cuz she lead the three misfits down first and left the Team Dream behind.

"Huh," Zazz said. "It's been awhile since Team Nightmare has been back in a guild."

" _That's_ Team Nightmare?" Zyla and I hollered in unison. The pokemon in the town below paused, looked around, then continued about their day. They probably heard pokemon shouting all the time, no big deal.

"Yes," he said. "Panpour told you already, Zakuro. They're well-known criminals. They've claimed to have stolen a great many good, but no matter who captures them and how hard they look, no one has ever found the treasure." Zyla's jaw dropped. I rolled my eyes. Those three? Sitting on a pile of gold? Why did I doubt it? Oh, I know, they're a bunch of idiots. "You know why Topsy and I have brought them here. They're bound to know something."

"But they willingly came," Zyla protested. "Don't you think they'd lie low after a while?"

"I'm only guessing they're doing this to not look suspicious."

"So this isn't their first time on a team?" I asked.

"No. They've been in a great number of guilds. They always get kicked out of each one in the end, however. Mainly for causing ruckus and annoying others." Not stealing? I asked mentally. Man, these guys were either compulsive liars, or were picky treasure hunters. Either one didn't sound very pleasing. "The only reason anyone takes them in is to get clues on what treasures they have. So no matter what, don't make them quit. We need to help Virizion."

We had left the grassy legendary back in what was left of her forest. Topsy had insisted bringing her back to the guild to protect, but she had declined. It was her home and she wanted to stay. I was worried that she'd turn all koo-koo again, but I had no say in it. Topsy seemed to have it under control. They must've been friends before because the two of them were pretty acquainted. I'd have to ask her about it later.

The three of us entered the guild. To our surprise, there was already a group of people at the bottom of the ladder. I narrowly avoided falling on the heads of a few as we jumped down. As soon as we landed, they started yelling questions, pushing past each other, and waving to try and get our attention. It was like I was some famous celebrity and these pokemon were the paparazzi. They had completely lost themselves!

"Hey, now," Zazz said in a loud voice. "We can explain everything as soon as dinner rolls around! Please, make way! We need to see Guild Master!" The crowd quieted down. They still looked antsy to ask questions, however. A few of them were quivering from excitement.

"But, Zazz," Taillow spoke. "We want to know what happened."

"And you will," he replied. "Dinner. We promise." The pokemon exchanged glances. Then, they all took a deep breath. Taillows feathers ruffled in disappointment.

"Alright. As long as you promise." She hopped forward on anxious feet. "But you have to at least tell us where you found Team Nightmare." The crowd leaned forward in anticipation. Zazz sighed, his blue-tipped tail dropping to the floor.

"Fine," he conceded. "We found them torturing a panpour on the way here. They wanted to join the guild, so we let them in." Now they looked downright disappointed. What? Were they expected a great story of battling and adventure finding those losers? Pfft. These guys asked too much. Zazz looked to Zyla and I. "That reminds me. It's going to be crowded in Coco's office. You two should go and find some lunch while I talk to her. Get something for me, too if you could." Great, lunch duty. Well, anything to get away from Team Nightmare, who we could smell coming out of the next room over.

We didn't object. We climbed up the ladder. While the pokemon below started following Zazz, uninvited, to Coco's office, Zyla and I started going down the spiral steps to the town. The sun was directly overhead by then. I felt sweat gather in my fur as the two of us walked up to Kecleon. The vendor had a variety of berries and other fruity mixtures for sale. Zyla had some cash left over from when Zazz sold the gold ribbon, so we were able to buy several meals. For her, a Berry Balooza. We bought Zazz a Sitrus Souffle, and for me, I got something that looked like ice cream on a cone but was really just peeled pecha berries on an edible type of flower.

After we had packed away Zazz's lunch, the two of us sat down near the edge of Town Square next to a couple of bushes. There was a thin stream running past us bubbling as it ran slowly over some rounded rocks. A few pokemon were sipping away at it. A few younger ones were playing in it, splashing each other gleefully. I was glad for that. Every time one of them jumped in it, a soft spray of chilled water clung to my fur. It felt so good.

"Hey," I said, catching Zyla's attention right as she finished up her meal. "Where can we go to take a bath?" She started licking between her fingers, pondering.

"We could go to wherever this stream ends," she offered. "You hot?"

"Yeah," I admitted. I knew she didn't often get too warm because she was a fire type, but I was dying. There was no wind, no clouds, and worst of all, the shade had already been taken by a great many of townies. I could use some cold water. And a bath, man how long had it been since I'd bathed? I don't think cleanliness transferred over when I switched from human to pokemon.

"Well, let's go." She stood up. I finished my treat and gestured for her to lead the way. As we followed the stream, I padded through it with my tired paws. Zyla did the opposite. She had to avoid being hit too hard with water, even little splashes could hurt her. Bathing a fire type pokemon was just as hard in the human world as it was in this world I guessed.

The stream started widening. By the time we were finally in view of where it emptied, there was already a crowd gathered around it. Yet, for some reason, only a select few were in it. It was big, maybe bigger than Town Square itself. Why were they not getting in?

"Hey," Zyla asked a nearby trapinch. The pokemon glanced over at us, blinked, then turned back. It was like he hadn't even seen us. But we knew he had because he had heard us. Wow, how rude.

"Ignore him," said a vibrava behind the ignorant pokemon. "He's just angry because he can't get his morning bath. Trapinch turned on her.

"Shut it, sis!" he snapped. "This is the third time this week that they've taken it all to themselves! Someone should really teach them a lesson!" Vibrava saw our confused faces.

"Oh, you two don't know, then." My fennekin friend tilted her head. "These two gyarados came into town a while ago. They took over the swimming hole and won't let anyone in it except for a few of their friends that they brought with them from who knows where? There's only like ten of them, but the swimming hole is just as wide as it is deep; there's more than enough room for everybody."

"Water pokemon traveled here?" I questioned. "Is there a lake or something nearby?"

"Not for miles," Trapinch muttered. "Why they're here is confusing everyone, but they won't go home. They said this is their new home." Hm. Well, water pokemon weren't the most happy to travel across land, especially legless ones like gyarados. There had to be some reason behind why they were here and hogging the water hole.

Vibrava and Trapinch let us past just so we could see what they were walking about. Pokemon of Paradise were surrounding a larger lake. Some of them were trying to sneak their way in the water, but various water-type guards would snap at them or point powerful moves their way. There were squirtles, poliwags, spheals, lotads, luvdiscs and mantyke. There were definitely more than I expected. How could all of these pokemon just appeared out of nowhere? They didn't even seem to be enjoying the water, they were just relieved to be wet.

"Let us get in, guys!" called an abra from the right. "It isn't right to have the whole place to yourselves!" The water pokemon snarled at her. Wait, they were injured. Almost every one of them had scars or a black eye. Some were missing teeth and others were beat up too bad to stand guard.

"You can have it when we're done with it!" a gyarados called from the center of the lake. His sister, her back to him, looked back and forth to glare at any pokemon that tried to sneak their way into the water. I thought she was just squinting because of the harsh sunlight, but when she turned to look my direction, I saw that wasn't the case.

Someone had torn out her right eye in a battle that left a long red scar down her side.

"Besides, the majority of you aren't water pokemon! What use would you have with a lake?" Regardless of being wounded, the gyarados was happy to spit at the others with angry words and harsh glares.

"We need to swim," a swinub cried. "Please! Us ice pokemon are melting!"

"No," she said, lifting her chin like a snob. "This is ours."

I couldn't take it any longer. I pushed past the others, hissing at them when they tried to get their spot back. When they saw my sweaty fur stand on end, they held up their hands and backed away. This commotion attracted the attention of the beached pokemon and the nearby water types. A wartortle pulled back his claws, ready to lash out at me if I so much as took another step forward. I bared my teeth as menacingly as I could and made that gross yowling sound that cats made. Behind me, Zyla was panicking. Would she stop me or would she sit back and watch like I wanted her to?

The two gyarados glanced my way. "Can it, fox. We don't have time for you."

"Battle me," I challenged. "Both of you, two on one." The town pokemon paused. The water types turned to me, blinking in surprise. Apparently, those two hadn't been challenged before. "If you two won't take me on, I won't play fair."

"Why should we listen to an unevolved loser like you?" The brother gyarados laughed.

Wrong answer. I sucked in my breath, absorbing every bit of static in the air. The land pokemon saw what was coming and took one huge step back as static started running up and down my heavy fur. Before the water pokemon knew what was going on, I exhaled a storm of electricity directly down into the water. The result was immediate: every pokemon from this side of the lake to the other became frozen in a way of lightning. The two gyarados in the center felt it the most, being flying type and all.

It was only three seconds of shocking, but it seemed so much longer than that. I could almost see all of their startled expressions as hundreds of volts of shocks ran through their bodies. Some, like slowpoke, were expressionless. Others, like poliwag and other small pokemon, nearly fainted on the spot. And then there were the bigger pokemon that tried to suck it up but failed. As soon as it all ended, the whole pool froze, then the punk sunk beneath the waves, where they bubbled.

Zakuro Used Spark!

The Lake Is Electrified!

It's Super Effective!

Saving Game…

Game Saved!


End file.
